Greatest Halloween Songs

Halloween is almost upon us, and you all know what that means... yes, hearing Monster Mash until your ears bleed. While, I won't deny that I enjoyed the song as a kid, and that it is catchy, I've had my fill of Monster Mash for this lifetime. So, we here at BSD have attempted to compile a few song to replace it. The first seven songs were picked by me, the last eight by Caleb...

I Put a Spell on You by CCR
Why it rocks: While not really all that relevant to the topic, I'll admit... it does talk about magic. The real reason this is on the list is because of the pounding, incessant music and the growling cries of Foggerty.
Scariest/creepiest line:
I put a spell on you, because you're mine.

Witchy Woman by the Eagles
Why it rocks: Sure, it's an obvious pick, and not one of my favorite Eagles song, but you can't deny that it fits here. The music is wailing enough to be creepy, and while the lyrics seem a bit contrived at times, there are some nice lines.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Crazy laughter in another room
And she drove herself to madness with a silver spoon.

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
Why it rocks: Perhaps overplayed to the point of having lost all meaning for most people, it was always one of my favorite songs growing up. The music in undeniably creepy and sad, the theme of death permeates the entire song.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Your head is humming and it won't go,
In case you don't know,
The piper's calling you to join him

Banshee Song by Gob
Why it rocks: Well... it's about a Banshee, and love... or something. I'm sure that's a metaphor for something, but... Banshees! Another very creepy melody and obviously Halloweeny lyrics.
Scariest/creepiest line:
I am every waiting
You are out there wailing

Mr. Crowley by Ozzy Osbourne
Why it rocks: Organ music, lyrics about the craziest motherfucker in Victorian England, and Ozzy Osbourne... can't get much scarier than that. I'd like to see Ozzy sing this to Alistair Crowley's corpse... that would make a damn good concert, actually.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head,
Mr. Crowley, did you talk to the dead.

Lady in Black by Uriah Heep
Why it rocks: Solemn, but with a nice beat. The lyrics are almost spit out and the refrain is replaced simply by a moaning wail by the only band (that I know of) named after a Dickens character.
Scariest/creepiest line:
And I begged her give me horses to trample down my enemy,
So eager was my passion to devour this waste of life.

Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon
Why it rocks: Without a doubt my favorite Halloween song. It's oddly upbeat for the subject matter, but the music has just a tinge of creepiness to mitigate that fact. Quirky, fun and violent, what is more Halloweeny than that? Ahoooooooooo!
Scariest/creepiest line:
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand,
Walking down the streets of Soho in the rain.

Ice Cream Man by Tom Waits
Why it rocks: The sheer eeriness of this song gets me every time. The twang of the bells and the melodic chimes in the song’s opening are hypnotizing and the melodic sexual innuendos in the lyrics are a virtual Pied Piper’s pixie song of Humbert Humbert or Pennywise.
Scariest/creepiest line:
I got a cherry Popsicle right on time
A big stick, mamma, that'll blow your mind

I Hear the Rain by the Violent Femmes
Why it rocks: A slightly quicker (and slightly creepier) funeral dirge than we’re used to.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Burry me out on a lone prairie.
Friendly calls of the coyote.

Thriller by Michael Jackson
Why it rocks: Three of the greatest words in horror cinema: Vincent Price voiceover. Price did for terror what John Waters did for homosexuality in a way Hitchcock and Castle could only dream of.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize your neighborhood.

Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus
Why it rocks: Tragic and romantic, just like Dracula, just like Lugosi.  
Scariest/creepiest line:
The count,
Bela Lugosi’s‘s dead,
Undead undead undead.

Hybrid Moments by The Misfits
Why it rocks: It wasn't easy choosing just one Halloweeny non-Halloween song by the Misfits- there are too many to choose from. Hybrid Moments captures the feeling of fleeting fun which Halloween carries with it the older I get.  
Scariest/creepiest line:
If you’re gonna scream, scream with me.

Weird Scene by Mr. Brown
Why it rocks: For a very long time I had no idea what this song was. I heard it on Little Steven’s Underground Garage while driving to Grand Rapids, MI on Halloween in 2006. It has since become one of my favorite songs and supplement to Ray Bradbury’s classic Halloween short story The Homecoming.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Uncle Billy’s always locked away inside the shed
He’s got these little marks along the right side of his head
Says he got them swimming with the dolphins in the sea
He is the favorite uncle of the weirdest family.

Discover Mr Brown!

Goosebumps Theme
Why it rocks: This song still sends a shiver down my spine. When I was young this show scared me more than the X-Files did because it could keep my attention, was fully comprehendible, and this song. The strings are like knives and the piano is like the forest in Hansel and Gretel.
Scariest/creepiest line:
Viewer beware, you’re in for a scare.

Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner
Why it rocks: This song is a Halloween hold over from my parents.  I'm used to when hearing this song being told about how for the first few Halloweens my parents lived together they would set up speakers on the windowsill of there flat and play it all day long until trick-or-treating was over or the church down the street from them asked that it be turned off.
Scariest/creepiest line:
“All that listening to Wagner makes me wants to invade Poland”
~ Oscar Wilde on Wagner

by Matt&Caleb