SwingDJs

I'm sure that many of us will be DJing Halloween dances. I'd like to put together a list of songs to play especially for Halloween.

Some from my (evolving) list:

Song - BPM - Musician - Album (if applicable)

"I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music" - 245 - Duke Heitger & His Swing Band - Rhythm Is Our Business
"All the Time" - 225 - Lucky Millinder - Apollo Jump
"Who's Yehoodi?" - 205 - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep to the Jive?
"Tarzan of Harlem" - 225 - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep to the Jive?
"Minor Swing" - Django
"Topsy" - 205 - Count Basie - Proper Box
"All the Cats Join In" - 180 - Benny Goodman - JSP Box
"I've Found a New Baby" - 260 - Joe Venuti & Eddie Lang - Good Enough to Keep
"The Count" - 170 - Benny Goodman - JSP Box
"Minnie the Moocher" (yeah, yeah, yeah) - 95 - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep to the Jive?
"Dickie's Dream" - 235 - Count Basie - Proper Box
"The Jitters" - 275 - Count Basie - Proper Box
"Fare The Well, Deacon Jones" - 155 - Lucky Millinder - Apollo Jump
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" - 225 - Duke Ellington - Three Suites.

(Edited to remove Strange Fruit.)

Here is the copy of Abbie McMillan's Halloween list that she collected from all of us and posted on our old yahoo group 2 years ago:

"Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" - multiple artists (Goodman, Lavay, Krall etc.)
"Blue Light, Red Light (Someone's There)" - Harry Connick Jr.
"Bone Orchard Blues" - Ida Cox
"Boogie At Midnight" - Al Copley
"Boogie Woogie Man" - Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra

"Call of the Freaks" - Mora's Modern Rhythmists
"Candy for Breakfast" - Swingerhead
"Cleanin' up the Town"- The Busboys, first Ghostbuster Movie soundtrack
"Come On A My House" - Rosemary Clooney
"Crazy Alien Chick" - King Memphis ( www.kingmemphis.com.)

"Cruella De Ville" - Dr. John
"Cyberspace is the Place" - Oscar Brown Jr
"Dance Of The Gremlins" - Count Basie
"Dead Man's Party" - Oingo Boingo
"Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" - Rosemary Clooney
"Dr. Bones" - Cherry Poppin Daddies

"Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive" - Benny Goodman
"Drivin' Nails In My Coffin" (western swing) - Beck & Willie Nelson
"Dry Bones" - The Delta Rhythm Boys
"Enter The Sandman" - The New Morty Show
"Experiment In Terror" - Henry Mancini, Blue Hawaiians, Oranj Symphonette

"Everybody Eats When They Come to My House" - Cab Calloway

"Foo-La- Di-Oo-Wee-Do" - George Gee
"Ghostbusters" - Ray Parker, Jr.

"Ghost Riders In The Sky" - Vaughan Monroe
"Great Pumpkin Waltz" - Vince Guaraldi
"Halloween Spooks" - Lambert Hendricks Ross
"Haunted Heart" - Jo Stafford
"Haunted House" - a whole CD of old swing/blues! Nimbus label from Great Britian
"Headless Horseman" - Kay Starr
"Heebee Jeebies" - Louis Armstrong
"Hell" - Squirrel Nut Zippers
"(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You" - various artists
"I Hear You Screamin'" - Glenn Miller AAF, Manny Moore
"I'm Your Boogie Man" - KC & the Sunshine Band

"Insect Ball" - Lily Wilde
"I Prefer a Coffin to a Bed" - Lee Press-On and the Nails.
"I Put A Spell On You" - (e.g. Nina Simone, Screamin Jay Hawkins, Creedence Clearwater)
"I Raise Hell" - Squirrel Nut Zippers
"I Wanna Be Evil" - Eartha Kitt
"I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl" - Nina Simone
"I Want Candy" - Bow Wow Wow
"Jack The Ripper" (hip-hop lindy) - LL Cool J
"Jack, You're Dead" - Louis Jordan (or Joe Jackson)
"Jumpin Punkins" - Duke Ellington

"LA Earthquake Boogie" - Rob Rio
"Lavender Coffin" - Lionel Hampton
"Love Potion #9" - Hansel Martinez
"Mack The Knife" - multiple artists
"Magic" - Count Basie
"Man with the Hex " - Atomic Fireballs
"Mickey Mouse Club" - Julie London
"Midnight In A Madhouse" - Chick Webb
"Moanin' " - multiple artists (Lambert Hendricks & Ross or Oscar Brown Jr.)

"Monster Mash" - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett
"Monster Movie Ball" - Spike Jones
"Moondance" - Van Morrison & Georgie Fame
"Moon Song" - Bill Berry
"Mr. Ghost Goes to Town" - Mora's Modern Rhythmists
"Murder In The Red Barn" - Tom Waits
"My Friend, the Ghost" - Tommy Dorsey
"My Man's An Undertaker" - Dinah Washington
"Nightmare" - Artie Shaw
"Nightmare On My Street" (hip-hop lindy) - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
"Nightmare World" - Blues Jumpers
"No Moon At All" - multiple artists (Les Brown, Lucy Reed, or Karrin Allyson)
"Oak Tree" - Alien Fashion Show
"Pack up your sins and go to the devil" - Ella Fitzgerald/Chick Webb
"Pay, Pay, Pay (the devil pay) - Bellvue Cadillac
"Purple People Eater" and other old novelty tunes - Dr. Demento .
"Puttin' On The Ritz" - "Young Frankenstein" soundtrack
"Rip Van Winkle" - Ella Mae Morse
"Satan" - Vargas Swing ( MP3 gratis from www.vargas-swing.com)

"Satan Takes a Holiday" - Tommy Dorsey

"Skeleton in the Closet" - Louis Armstrong
"Signifyin' Monkey" - Oscar Brown Jr.
"Spookie Woogie" - George Shearing

"St. Louis Cemetery Blues" - Squirrel Nut Zippers
"Stone Cold Dead In The Market" - Louis Jordan
"Sugar" - Billie Holiday, Katharine Whalen, etc
"Swingin' At the Seance" - Glenn Miller
"That Old Black Magic" - multiple artists
"That Old Devil Moon" - multiple artists
"That Ole Devil Called Love" - Billie Holiday
"The Candy Man" - Sammy Davis, Jr.
"The Devil Sat Down And Cried" - Harry James
"The Fiends" - Theme from The Addams Family
"The Ghost of Smokey Joe" - Best of Cab Calloway
"The Little Man who Wasn't There" - Glenn Miller
"The Oogie Boogie Song" - Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack
"The Passenger" - Siouxsie & The Banshees, or Iggy Pop
"The Purple People Eater" - Sheb Wooley
"The Skeleton In The Closet" - Louis Armstrong
"The Walls Keep Talking" - Anita O Day w/ Krupa
"U.F.O. Attack" - The Asylum Street Spankers
"Vampire of Love" - Rhythm Rockets (www.rhythmrockets.com)
"Walkin' After Midnight" - Madeline Peyroux

"Walls Keep Talkin" - Gene Krupa
"Werewolves Of London" - Waren Zevon
"Whistlin' Past The Graveyard" - Tom Waits
"Witchcraft" - Frank Sinatra
"Wrapped Tight" - Coleman Hawkins

Neat list Platypus!

Tina

Yeah, that's great. Many thanks!

I might add:

Endless Sleep - Jimmy Witherspoon
Satan Takes A Holiday - Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque

Also, what about songs that don't have a spooky title or lyrics, but just sound kinda dark?

Happy Go Lucky Local - Ellington, or Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
Boody Rumble - Count Basie

Matthew wrote:I'm sure that many of us will be DJing Halloween dances. I'd like to put together a list of songs to play especially for Halloween.

Some from my (evolving) list:

"Strange Fruit" - 55 (yes, 55) - Billie Holiday - Golden Greats: Billie Holiday

I understand the giddy theme of Halloween and everything, but this song is about lynching black people in the South. I doubt this song would be appropriate EVER at a dance. Can you just imagine the surrealness of people grinding and humping to this song?

Lawrence wrote:

Matthew wrote:I'm sure that many of us will be DJing Halloween dances. I'd like to put together a list of songs to play especially for Halloween.

Some from my (evolving) list:

"Strange Fruit" - 55 (yes, 55) - Billie Holiday - Golden Greats: Billie Holiday

I understand the giddy theme of Halloween and everything, but this song is about lynching black people in the South. I doubt this song would be appropriate EVER at a dance. Can you just imagine the surrealness of people grinding and humping to this song?

Uh-oh. I didn't realize that, I just thought the melody sounded interesting. Thanks for telling me. Yes, playing that at a dance would be quite terrible.

Jake wrote:Also, what about songs that don't have a spooky title or lyrics, but just sound kinda dark?

That's what I was thinking about. The ones that I mentioned all sound kind of foreboding.

Yeah... I have Strange Fruit on my PC, but it will never get played at a dance. Ever. The song is amazing, though. For those not in the know, listen REAL close to the lyrics. It becomes obvious very quickly.

Weird. I just heard about that song for the first time yesterday, as we discussed it and its lyrics in class.

The man who wrote it was the foster father of the (executed) Rosenbergs' son, for a piece of trivia.

kitkat wrote: The man who wrote it was the foster father of the (executed) Rosenbergs' son, for a piece of trivia.

Never knew that.

Tina

thanks for the song recommendations people...I was thinking about posting a thread about swinging halloween songs...

my contribution:

quoth the raven - ella mae morse (rip that shit off of ghostcatchers)

rockin' in the graveyard - jackie morningstar

How come nobody mentioned "Mr. Ghost Goes to Town" yet? No brainer IMHO.

kitkat wrote:Weird. I just heard about that song for the first time yesterday, as we discussed it and its lyrics in class.

The man who wrote it was the foster father of the (executed) Rosenbergs' son, for a piece of trivia.

There's a great book on the history of the song by David Margolick, also entitled Strange Fruit

-cgw

I used some of the suggestions on this thread last night at one of our Halloween dances and I got a good response.

Thanks all!

Tina

Nothing like a dollop of murder, madness, and the devil. Adds to the feeling that I am NOT doing something my mother would approve of.