Hello Monday – and Happy Halloween! I’ve never been a big Halloween person, but I sure do miss the days when the oldest was a little thing and liked to dress up. As a young adult, I used to go to fun costume parties – the hubby isn’t much into those, so that’s not something I’ve done in a very long time. But there’s hope – the hubby actually mentioned maybe doing that at some point. It’s progress, and hope springs eternal!
Meanwhile since it is Monday, you know that Monday means music! For the month of October, our Spotlight Dancer is not one person but those who offered a theme suggestion. The theme selected for this week is from our very own co-conductor, Cathy from Curious as a CAThy is: “All Hallow’s Eve put your spin on Halloween inspired song picks using the History Channel website to learn about this popular holiday.” Let’s get this party started!
Let’s start off with a song that is perfect for Halloween, a little ‘out of the box’ thinking perhaps, but perfect, nonetheless, just to get things started.
It hails from Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” and is appropriately entitled, This is Halloween. Enjoy!
Next up is a song that needs to be on the list – it’s not just the title that’s scary, the vivid imagery and accompanying music video will have you on the edge of your seat.
While it’s about the memory of a former lover, this isn’t just a song of heartbreak: It’s haunting, even a little bit terrifying, and as the artist says, “Some of it’s just damn scary.” It will likely have you avoiding trains, tunnels and coal until next October. Just you wait and see.
This particular story on The History Channel inspired this choice:
As the Louisville Short Line chugged its way through Newport, Kentucky, the passenger train’s engineer peered out into the dark night of October 31, 1879, and saw something truly frightening—a body lying across the railroad tracks. Pulling on the brake with all his might, the engineer halted his iron horse in the nick of time and jumped out of the locomotive. As he rushed to the lifeless figure, the train operator quickly discovered why it wasn’t moving. It wasn’t a person at all, but a stuffed figure placed there by 200 boys hiding along the tracks, who started to howl with laughter at their Halloween trick.
Although the juveniles had threatened his safety and that of his passengers, the engineer did not utter a single admonishment. After all, he engaged in similar antics when he was a boy. Such things were to be expected on Halloween during the Gilded Age when the ghoulish holiday was free of candy and full of pranks, vandalism and even violence.
Give a listen to Eric Church with “Creepin’”:
Next up with the outbreak of World War II, sugar rationing meant there were few treats to hand out. But at the height of the postwar baby boom, trick-or-treating reclaimed its place among other Halloween customs. It quickly became standard practice for millions of children in America’s cities and newly built suburbs. No longer constrained by sugar rationing, candy companies capitalized on the lucrative ritual, launching national advertising campaigns specifically aimed at Halloween.
No doubt this song fits right in.
Here’s Bow Wow Wow with “I Want Candy”:
Last, but certainly not least is a new song from a Canadian singer/songwriter who started out on TikTok. The History Channel had an interesting story about witches and brooms:
From the beginning, brooms and besoms were associated primarily with women, and this ubiquitous household object became a powerful symbol of female domesticity.
Despite this, the first witch to confess to riding a broom or besom was a man: Guillaume Edelin. Edelin was a priest from Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. He was arrested in 1453 and tried for witchcraft after publicly criticizing the church’s warnings about witches. His confession came under torture, and he eventually repented, but was still imprisoned for life.
No better way to wrap up this week’s theme than with this fun earworm of a song.
Here’s Devon Cole with “W.I.T.C.H.”:
That’s a wrap for this week – see you on the dance floor!
Now on to the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:
I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, Callie of JAmerican Spice, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!
Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!
This week’s theme suggestion is from:
Cathy from Curious as a CAThy
Great song choices. Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween, Stacy! Tonight all the little goblins and ghouls converge upon neighborhood streets for trick or treat fun. Let’s hope there’s more treats than tricks going on. 🙂 Thanks for sharing some spooktacular mooosic. Have a boogietastic week, my dear!
Such cool songs here. Happy Halloween.
=I enjoyed your Halloween history lessons and also the songs. Happy Halloween!
Devon Cole has a fantastic voice. And I really liked Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy.” All were great!
Our Halloween was relatively quite, too – we used to give out a good five or more bags of candy (back when they were a full 16 oz) this year was barely 1 1/2 bags of 11 oz of candy. So now I have lots of leftover candy. I think it’s all the area trunk or treats (which I think are a great idea, incidentally) – not sure if they have caught on in your part of the country but they sure have here in New York State. Anyway, Nightmare before Christmas is a classic. I loved Creepin’, and I was already familiar with I Like Candy.