Halloween Music

[Guest WaveCrest]

Now back to my witches brew and my black cat! lol ;)

Spooky L

...and broomstick!

[ethsnafu]

Here's a Youtube video that looks at the top ten Halloween songs and I thought it might be nice to share it to see how it compares to own choices and how we might write a similar list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMBqHqAaALQ

Now in the UK there's a song that people of a certain age all know. Words and Pictures was an educational show that pretty much everyone of my age is familiar with and it featured various stories and animated segments all geared to teaching children spelling and grammar. One segment included The Witches of Halloween which was a short sort accompanied by an animation and for some reason everyone that has seen it can remember it and when we younger it was the song we would all sing on Halloween. I cannot find the original clip on Youtube but here's two British girls showing that they remember it too.

Eth

I do wish I could find the original clip. I do love this comment someone wrote after watching the video and how true it is.

SOMEONE PLEASE POST THE ORIGINAL CLIP!!! from what i see you'll be putting a nation out of it's misery, every British 30something i know shat themselves at school each year to it, i think it was called the 'pumpkin' episode of 'words and pictures' well done girls,x

[ty7du]

I'm sort of against the notion of Tubular Bells being a Halloween song, since the track in its whole, whether part 1 or part 2, not that much Halloween-y...well...there's this sort of "monster/werewolf" (sounds like it) yelling in Part 2. But there are slow gentle parts, so, I feel it's a cheat since Tubular Bells was not made especially for The Exorcist. They just found this track when going through lots of music and they used other parts from the song, maybe both parts, in other places in the film...like in the hallway of the dorm or apartment building, somewhere a rockin' tune is playing in the background.

I like a few track of The Who but never really considered Boris the Spider a Halloween song, but then again, us Icelanders aren't celebrating Halloween that much, it's now just for costume night out on the town party type of thing, we do have our own "trick or treating" tradition, which involves singing, no tricks but the kids get treats.

But I approve of the Monster Mash being at the top.

[ethsnafu]

The interesting thing about Tubular Bells is that it appears on all lists of this kind. I have to say I'm guilty of doing the same as you can see in this thread. Whether or not Tubular Bells was already a composition that was simply selected for The Exorcist I was always under the impression that it was given a revision for the film. Can anyone confirm or deny this? The virgin recording of Tubular Bells is a fairly light track but I am certain the version that plays over the beginning of The Exorcist has additional groans added to it to make it sound more intense and disturbing. I couldn't find a copy of this version at Youtube so I'm wondering if I'm wrong. Anyone know?

I know this isn't what this thread is for but whilst I am here I could resist this.

Eth

[ty7du]

I don't think they made any changes, who knows maybe they had some sound effects under it....when I'll watch it during this week, I'll know for sure...and I can compare it to the original CD release, even a mint-conditioned vinyl release and a cassette. Yup...I have it in 3 formats...got them all cheap as well.

I haven't even bothered getting or listening to the 2003 edition where he fixed and ironed out all the kinks, Oldfield was always unhappy about it, but to me it's just part of the appeal and charm...it's all good he wants to fix it, just as long as we can still hear and buy the original, since that's the version that people fell in love with and sold millions and it's a piece of history...*ahem* only if a certain George Lucas could think like that *sigh* John Cleese then does appear and lists the instruments, I believe, which Oldfield did on the original at the end of part 1.

It's such a feat, this two part piece...many layers of sounds...tapes...he recorded them all by himself, okay, some instruments were played by others and vocals...but mostly he played them all. And the most amazing part, he was under 20 when he did that...just wow...

[ethsnafu]

I don't appreciate the revisions he made to Tubular Bells either. Flawed or not the original is the best and sometimes you have to walk away from something and realise that any further revisions will detract from something that is already widely considered a work of art.

Now I have no idea or not if this can be considered a Halloween song but it is called Zombie so I'm using that as my excuse. This is a song I loved at the time but don't care a great deal for now. I think the problem is how much I have heard this over the years that it simply doesn't wow me in the same way anymore.

And just because I'm feeling generous I am including another of their videos here which has nothing at all to do with Halloween either but has a fabulously spooky video with a witch (I think) so it's perfect for this time of year.

Eth

[Guest SpooktalkGiGi]

I love the Cranberries so i will take what i can get from them lol :) about the Tubular Bells, yes there was more added to it to seem more spooky and to provoke more of the fear factor in the movie. :) Now how about this song from a very witchy woman, lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gij3X0UmVAY

[ethsnafu]

I love The Eagles, great choice Laura and thank you for clearing up the Exorcists thing. I still can't find a Youtube clip of the opening scenes in which it is used but I will. I foudn this that might be of interest to those who like Tubular Bells and The Exorcist.

However, Smith's ace in the hole when it comes to Exorcist lore is the story of how the truly frightening Tubular Bells music made its way into horror history as the signature music of The Exorcist. Originally, relates Smith, famed television and movie soundtrack composer Lalo Schifrin had been commissioned to create the soundtrack for The Exorcist. On the day in question, the composer and a 100-piece orchestra assembled in a recording studio.

"We went into the recording stage and we recorded for half a day. Billy just hated the soundtrack that Schifrin had come up with. He said it sounded like marimba music. He hated it so much that he just shut the whole session down."

The Exorcist soundtrack immediately went low tech as Friedkin and Smith poured through old classical records and assembled the soundtrack that way. "We had gone from assembling a 100 piece orchestra to putting together a soundtrack from old classical records. When we had what we needed, we just went back to London and rerecorded all the music over again."

It was in the process of patching together a soundtrack that a copy of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells literally walked in the door. "Somebody brought in an early promotional copy of the album and suggested we take a listen. We played it and Billy said, 'Why don't we try playing this in the sequence in which Chris is coming home and she sees Father Karras in that first scene and just have her walking to the music. 'So we synched Tubular Bells up and it worked great. In fact it worked so well that, when we got to the end of the film and we really didn't have anything to put over the end credits, we just went ahead and repeated it."

Eth

[ty7du]

I do like Tubular Bells II and III, those works are wholly original, different take and tangents on the original version. Funny, I didn't like Tubutar Bells III very much when I bought it...but have grown to love it since I've let myself look past my initial "it's too much techno/rave thing for me" dislike...but it's really mellow and dreamy and has one kick ass rock tune as well.

[ethsnafu]

I remember my own feelings on Tubular Bells III were very similar Josef. I think I used to refer to it as Tubular Bells the dance mix. I only own the original and that's more than enough for me.

This is another song that always gets added to my Halloween playlist and considering the amount of times it is used it film and television as an accompaniment to something spooky I guess I'm not the only one who thinks it makes a superb Halloween song. I'll hand over to The Doors, one of the very best bands of all time.

Eth