Halloween '26: Group Photo #7

    When October comes, the first thing I do to set the mood is to play these two Halloween mix CDs. 

    Now That’s What I Call Halloween has 18 “standard” Halloween songs that are great, but a bit predictable. The songs on Halloween Hootenanny were chosen by Rob Zombie, and he did the artwork as well. The music is a fun mix of rock and roll, psychobilly, and horror rock. That might sound serious, but it’s all good-natured fun. I like how Zacherle (a television horror movie host from the 50s and 60s) opens and closes the show.  

    This started me thinking about creepy songs that don’t usually make it onto party CDs. I’m sure there are many others, but I found these three in my collection.

    Helen Reddy’s “Angie Baby” can be interpreted as the story of a teenager who is perceived to be mentally ill. She plays her radio all day, and she has no friends except the imaginary ones she dances with in her room. One night a local boy, who has been watching her through her window, enters her room when her parents are gone. He intends to assault her, but he becomes disoriented when she turns up the volume on her radio. He is lifted off his feet. As she turns the radio down, the boy begins to shrink until he is absorbed into the radio where he is trapped forever. He is never seen again, except by Angie who makes him come out with the music each night so he can entertain her. Its good to have a friend... The song reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart at the end of 1974. 

    PJ Harvey’s "Down by the Water" can be interpreted as the story of a young mother who drowns her illegitimate child in a river. When she returns to the scene of the crime, it breaks her mind and all she can repeat is “Little fish, big fish swiming in the water. Come back here man, give me my daughter.’ She whisper/sings this nine times for the outro.This song peaked at number 2 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1995.

    I found Elvis Costello’s live version of Leon Payne’s murder ballad, Psycho, on this music sampler. Like PJ Harvey’s song, this is sung from the murderer’s perspective. By the end of the song he has killed his ex and her new guy, his brother, his brother’s puppy, a little girl he met at the park, and presumably his mother, “You think I’m psycho don't you mamma? Momma why don't you get up?”.Makes me afraid for the crying baby in the first verse. 

    Okay, yeah, these are a little dark. I think I’ll go out and get some sun.