My Halloween Playlist

In the past I've written about my playlist of summer music. (Not going to bother posting the links. You can search for them if you want.) I haven't done so recently, and now that we're past summer it doesn't seem like the time, but I'll mention in passing that it's up to 213 songs (plus five mixtape compilations from DJ Jazzy Jeff and his DJ cohort MICK, formerly Mick Boogie). A while back I created a playlist for winter as well, but I don't have many songs on it. There's no special vibe about a winter song, unlike summer songs. As a result, I only have songs with "cold" or "chill" or similar words in the title. So I need to work on that at some point.

I also have a Halloween playlist. It's now up to 77 tracks, including TV and movie themes, songs that are obviously Halloween-centric and others that merely have a word such as "evil" or "ghost" somewhere in the title and aren't necessarily (or aren't at all) scary or creepy. It's just over five hours long. (And I've got a list of songs I need to add to my iTunes library.) Instead of listing them by artist or alphabetically, I'm gonna group them here based on various keywords or other categories...


Deadly Killing Murder Songs

Greetings From a Dead Man - Eurythmics (from their rather controversial "1984" film soundtrack)
Road to Dead - Paula Cole
Prayer for the Dying - Seal
Killer Queen - Queen
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Gettin' Away With Murder - Patti Austin
Murder on the Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis Bextor
Heads Will Roll (Little Vampire Remix) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult (and I also have a cover by Caesars on the second "Six Feet Under" soundtrack)
#1 Crush - Garbage (this one I just added because of the lyrics -- lots of "I will die for you" and such)

Bewitched Songs (Hmmmm...would the "Bewitched" TV theme qualify? I should maybe get that somewhere...)

Black Magic Woman - Santana
Season Of The Witch - two versions: Donovan and Lou Rawls
Witch In The Ditch - Erasure
Witch Queen Of New Orleans - Redbone
Witchcraft  - Frank Sinatra
Witchcraft (Extended Remix) - Book Of Love
Witchy Woman  - Kristin Chenoweth

Could it be....SATAN!?!?! (And His Home?)

Devil Inside - INXS
Devil Made Me Do It - RuPaul
Devil's Haircut - Beck
The Devil's Right Hand - Steve Earle
Diablo - Simon Curtis
Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones
(You're The) Devil In Disguise - Elvis Presley
Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Hell is for Children - Pat Benatar

Ghosts and Other Creatures

All You Zombies - The Hooters
Black Cat - Janet Jackson
The Boogie Monster - Gnarls Barkley
Cry Like A Ghost - Passion Pit
Ghost - Katy Perry
Ghost Town - The Specials
Ghosts - Dirty Vegas
Ghosts In My Machine - Annie Lennox
I'm Your Boogie Man - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Love Song For A Vampire - Annie Lennox
Maneater - Hall & Oates
Monster - Lady Gaga
Vampires - Pet Shop Boys

Evil, Moody and Dark (At Least In The Title)

Black Friday - Steely Dan
Evil And A Heathen - Franz Ferdinand
Evil Angel - Rufus Wainwright
Haunted - Jewel
Le Sinestre - Eurythmics (a bonus track from the CD reissue of their very first album, "In The Garden ")
Mad World - Tears For Fears (if you're wondering about the slowed-down version sung by Gary Jules: a) I don't have it; 2) I kinda think it's too beautiful to be used for Halloween)
Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
People Are Strange - The Doors (I also have a cover by Echo & The Bunnymen)
Spooky - three versions! Atlanta Rhythm Section, Classics IV and Dusty Springfield
Supernatural - Madonna (the version that's on the "Red Hot + Dance" album, a charity followup to the Cole Porter "Red Hot + Blue" compilation benefiting HIV/AIDS research and relief)
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Nightmare Remix) - Eurythmics (I think I've mentioned this before...if you listen to no other song on this list, listen to this.

Kinda Obvious (Soundtracks, Etc.)

"Addams Family" Theme - Vic Mizzy
Addams Groove - MC Hammer (this is soooooooooo dated but I can't resist)
Everyday Is Halloween (Josh Harris Radio Edit) - Dangerous Muse (this is a cover of a song by Ministry; also, the leader of Dangerous Muse, Mike Furey, exudes raw sexual energy)
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
"Halloween" Theme - John Carpenter
I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (could've put this with the witches, I guess; also, Annie Lennox covers it on her new album "Nostalgia")
Monster Mash - Bobby Boris Pickett And The Crypt Kickers
Pet Sematary - The Ramones
Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell feat. Michael Jackson
Tales From The Crypt - Danny Elfman
This Is Halloween - Citizens Of Halloween ("The Nightmare Before Christmas" -- Christmas movie? Halloween movie? Discuss.)
Thriller - Michael Jackson (well, duh)
Thriller/Heads Will Roll mashup - Glee Cast
The Time Warp - Original Cast-Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tubular Bells Part 1 (Edit) - Mike Oldfield (from "The Exorcist," for you young people)
"Twilight Zone" theme - Bernard Herrmann
Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone - The Manhattan Transfer
Weird Science - Oingo Boingo

The Simpsons!

The Simpsons Halloween Special End Credits Theme ("The Addams Family" Homage)
Treehouse Of Horror V (Medley) - I don't know why the album labeled this as a medley. This is really just the opening of the episode, a spoof of the opening of "The Outer Limits" featuring Bart and Homer ("This...is my voice...on teeveeeeee...") and the opening theme music. If "Simpsons World" were fully functioning as was touted, I could add the actual clip. But it's not.

And Finally, Because I Am A Weirdo...

Batdance - Prince (Hey! Bats are a Halloween thing too!)