Halloween Songs [1]

Subject: Lyr Add: RUFUS JACK-O-LANTERN + OVER THE GRAVEYARD
From: judy
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 02:23 AM

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]

I looked up Halloween on yahoo for my son and came across a bunch of songs with traditional Xmas tunes.

Here's a couple:

URL: http://www.night.net/halloween/wonderland.html-ssi

RUFUS JACK-O-LANTERN
(Tune: Frosty the Snowman)

Rufus Jack-o-Lantern
Was a very scarey sight,
With triangle eyes, a twisted mouth,
And a huge hole for a nose.

Rufus Jack-o-Lantern
Is a ghost tale so they say,
But the children know how the story goes,
How he came to scare them one day.

There must have been some magic
in the candle mom put in him,
For when they struck a match to it,
he began to laugh at them.

Rufus Jack-o-Lantern
Was alive as he could be,
and the children say he could scream all day
just like any banshee.

Rufus Jack-o-Lantern
Was a very scarey sight,
With triangle eyes, a twisted mouth,
And a huge hole for a nose.

Rufus Jack-o-Lantern
Is a ghost tale so they say,
But the children know how the story goes,
How he came to scare them one day.

He chased them down to the old graveyard
with a broomstick and a mop.
He scared them half to death until
he came to a sudden stop.

Oh, Rufus Jack-o-Lantern,
His time had come to go.
He had to stop his scary chase
When his candle would no longer glow.

Thumpity, thump, thump,
Thumpity, thump, thump,
Look at Rufus go.

Thumpity, thump, thump,
Thumpity, thump, thump,
Watch out or he'll get your TOE!

Thanks to John Peoples (Jonesboro, AR, USA) for these lyrics!
OVER THE GRAVEYARD
(Tune: Over the River and Through the Woods)

Over the graveyard and through the tombs,
To the haunted house we go.
The ghosts are a fright,
This spooky night
So come and join the show.

Over the graveyard and through the tombs,
Just hear the dreadful cries,
The banshees howl,
The black cats yowl,
Their shrieking fills the skies.

Over the graveyard and through the tombs,
Where all the goblins meet,
Witches and ghouls
They are no fools,
They all yell, "Trick or Treat."

Over the graveyard and through the tombs,
The jack-o-lanterns gleam.
Bats fill the skies,
With glowing eyes,

Hooray! It's Halloween!
(Repeat the last two verses.)


Here's a chant I did with preschoolers:

Stirring and stirring and stirring the pot (stir)
Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling hot! (fingers wiggle upwards)
Look to the moon (look up)
Laugh like a loon
Ah, ha, ha, hahaha, ha
What shall we put in the pot?
(Ask two or three children for their suggestion and throw it in the pretend pot on your lap)
(Continue repeating the entire chant and putting things in the pot until all the children have had a turn)

Last time:
(Instead of "What shall we put in the pot?")
Let's put the lid on the pot! (put the lid on and move the very heavy pot off your lap)

Okay, teachers, what have you got? And former students, I know you remember a line or two.

Happy, happy to you, Boo!
Judy

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 02:52 AM

Once upon a time, I heard a spooky song about an old woman and her cat. It started something like this:

There was an old woman, all haggard and mean,
Whooo-oo-oo-oo

She lived in a house with a skinny black cat
Whooo-oo-oo-oo

It goes on and on like this, until she digs up a grave and takes the coffin out, and then:

And then she lifted the coffin lid
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!(blood-curdling scream)

I can't remember the lyrics for the life of me, so I just make them up as I go along, getting progressively scarier. Seems to work pretty well, although I noticed the school didn't invite me to perform for Halloween after that....
Does anybody know the REAL lyrics?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Alice
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 02:24 PM

You have triggered a memory for me from grade school. We learned a song called THE WOBBLIN' GOBLIN, and about every year at Halloween I think of the part I remember and wonder about the rest. Does anyone know this one? This is as much as I remember:

THE WOBBLIN' GOBLIN

The wobblin' goblin with the broken broom, could never fly too high,
'Cause right at the take off, another piece would break off,
And soon he would be danglin' in the sky.

Each evening just as he would leave the ground
His radio would say,
Control tower to goblin, your broomstick is a wobblin'
You'd better make a landin' right away.

The tune changes then, and I can't remember the rest of the words. Alice in Montana

Subject: Lyr Add: WORMS (sung by the Pogues)
From:
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 04:41 PM

The little ditty that the Pogues sing, not mentioned in the liner notes of their CD, is quite appropriate for Halloween.

WORMS

The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in
Are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out
Are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in
And your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling
Down your snout
Be merry, my friends, be merry!

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 06:09 PM

Try "Ghost of Tom" in the DT. The note says it's a four-part round, but (oddly enough, considering that I was just discoursing about canons in this forum), our elementary-school class also sang it as a canon by augmentation: while some kids sang it through twice, others sang it once at half speed.

As I recall, I didn't like the last line of "The Ghost of Tom". Do kids really like modern sort-of-funny Halloween songs like "The Wobblin' Goblin", or would they rather sing something gruesome or scary? Try searching the DT for @ghost, @witch, etc. Don't forget "Tam Lin".

Judy, if your pre-schoolers like that "stirring the pot" chant, try them on the witches' spell from Macbeth. You obviously don't need any amateur suggestions I could come up with on visual aids or gestures.

We always sang "Over the River and through the Woods" at Thanksgiving, not Christmas. Maybe it depends on what part of the country you're in. "White and drifting snow" is possible (though not all that likely) in Cleveland in late November.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: judy
Date: 18 Oct 97 - 06:56 PM

Jerry,

You're absolutely right about "Over the River" being for Thanksgiving. Thanks for catching that. Most of the other ones on that website are Xmas tunes. For the preschoolers, I did very tame ones although by 4 or 5 they liked as gruesome ones as the older kids. I run computer labs now in the elementary schools but I'll have to look up the witch's spell from Macbeth for my own kids."Ghost of Tom" is one they've sung to me.

Tim,

I know a different "worms" one. I'm sure it will ring a bell with many of you
Here are some I learned in fourth or fifth grade at camp or on the playground

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle on your snout
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose
They eat the goo between your toes
Your stomach turns a slimy green
And puss comes out like shaving cream
You slap it between two pieces of bread
And that's what you'll eat when you are dead!


Along with another disgusting favorite

Great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey's meat,
Vomit fresh right off the street
One quart pint of anti-purpose, porpoise puss
Floating in my lemonade
(spoken)
And me without a spoon!

bon apetit judy

Subject: Lyr Add: LADY ALL SKIN AND BONES^^
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 19 Oct 97 - 03:06 PM

All this stuff about worms has triggered a long forgotten song my father used to sing at this time of year. I'll see if I can remember it all. I have no idea where he got it from.

LADY ALL SKIN AND BONES

(Quietly at first.)
There was a lady all skin and bones;
And such a lady was never known.
Oh she walked out all on a day--
Yes she walked down to the church to pray.

Oh she walked up and she walked down.
And she spied a dead man on the ground.
And from his nose into his chin,
The worms crept out and the worms crept in.

(Quieter now)
She walked over to yonder style,
And there she tarried a little while.
Then she walked on up to the door,
And there she tarried a little more.

(Really quiet now)
This woman to the parson said,
"Will I be so when I am dead?"
The parson to the woman said,"
(Loud) YES!!!"


I'm amazed I remembered that.

Other songs I like to sing this time of year include Tamlin and a fun song I learned from Ian Robb called the Guy Fawkes Song. He collected it from someone named Charles Chilton.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WALKER OF THE SNOW (C D Shanly)
From: Barry
Date: 19 Oct 97 - 09:59 PM

Sean Tyrrell a few years back put a tune to one of Charles Dawson Shanly's poems, "The Walker Of The Snow"--great song/poem.


THE WALKER OF THE SNOW
(Poem by Charles Dawson Shanly)

Speed on, speed on, good master! The camp lies far away;—
We must cross the hunted valley before the close of day.
How the snow-blight came upon me, I will tell you as we go,—
The blight of the shadow hunter who walks the midnight snow.

To the cold December heaven came the pale moon and the stars,
As the yellow sun was sinking, behind the purple bars.
The snow was deeply drifted upon the ridges drear
That lay for miles around me and the camp for which we steer.

'Twas silent on the hill-side, and by the solemn wood
No sound of life or motion to break the solitude,
Save the wailing of the moose-bird with a plaintive note and low,
And the skating of the red leaf upon the frozen snow.

And said I,—"Though dark is falling, and far the camp must be,
Yet my heart it would be lightsome, if I had but company."
And then I sang and shouted, keeping measure, as I sped,
To the harp-twang of the snow-shoe as it sprang beneath my tread.

Not far into the valley had I dipped upon my way,
When a dusky figure joined me, in a capuchon of grey,
Bending upon the snow-shoes with a long and limber stride;
And I hailed the dusky stranger, as we travelled side by side.

But no token of communion gave he by word or look,
And the fear-chill fell upon me at the crossing of the brook;
For I saw by the sickly moonlight, as I followed, bending low,
That the walking of the stranger left no foot-marks on the snow.

Then the fear-chill gathered o'er me, like a shroud around me cast,
As I sank into the snow-drift where the shadow hunter passed.
And the otter-trappers found me before the break of day,
With my dark hair blanched and whitened as the snow in which I lay.

But they spoke not, as they raised me, for they knew that in the night
I had seen the shadow hunter, and had withered in his blight.
Sancta Maria speed us! The sun is falling low,—
Before us lies the Valley of the Walker of the Snow!


These are Shanly's words; Sean has changed them only slightly, a word here & there. I believe he's recorded this now but I don't know where. Some others you might like are "Twa Corbies" (I've always thought of it as a Halloween type), "Werewolf" in a thread about a week back, some of the Souling songs, from the mummer's plays, have changed from Christmas to All Saints or Halloween. The children, going door to door representing souls of the returning dead, would be given Soul Cakes in turn for the good luck bestowed on them.

A soul, a soul, a soul cake, please good missus a soul cake
an apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry--any good thing to make us merry

Another would be the "Cheshire Souling Song" somewhat similar to Pace Egging

Here comes one, two, three jolly good hearty lads and we're all in one mind
For this night we've come a-souling good nature to find
For this night we've come a-souling as it doth appear
And it's all that we are souling for is your ale and strong beer

That's from Peter Kennedy's collection recorded on Topic's Folk Songs Of Britain, vol #9 Songs Of Ceremony 1961. The souling song may be from the Waterson's can't remember.
Barry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW2PdPeK07w

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: rosebrook
Date: 19 Oct 97 - 10:58 PM

As heard on Raffi's "More Songs for the Very Young", a favorite I've used with very short people to their delight is Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate The first one said, "oh my, it's getting late" The second one said, "there's witches in the air!" The third one said, "but we don't care." The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!" The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!" Oo-ooo went the wind, and out went the lights, and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Personally, I much prefer the aforementioned oozing and slimy and gopher guts songs.... Rosebrook

Subject: Lyr Add: PLASTIC FLOWER SEEDS (Bert Hansell)
From: Bert
Date: 20 Oct 97 - 09:01 AM

A few years ago, around halloween time, I had to sing three songs at a concert. I could only think of two suitable songs "Tom Pierce" and "The British Workman's Grave", so I wrote one of my own to complete the set.

It's called "Plastic Flower Seeds."

  
         D
  I was walking through the graveyard Sunday Morning
  
                                          
  when my daughter said "Oh tell me Daddy please
  
       G                         D
  I really want to know, how do plastic flowers grow
  
                           A7             D
  and where do we get them plastic flower seeds"
  
  

When some folks die their souls are sent to heaven
the rest are sent below amongst the weeds
their bodies stay right here, and the plant them deep my dear
and they turn into them plastic folwer seeds.

On young William's grave there grew a red red rose,
Barbry Allen grew a briar for her deeds,
but in these modern times we all pay for our crimes
by turning into plastic flower seeds.

I wish they'd plant some roses 'round our gravestones
but in this world of selfishness and greed
the memory they preserve, it's the one that we deserve
and we turn into them plastic folwer seeds

Now when I die I wanna go to heaven,
but maybe not, I've sometimes been a weed,
but whichever way I go, you can plant me here below
and I'll turn into a plastic flower seed.

Yeah, whichever way I go, you can plant me here below
and I'll turn into a plastic flower seed.

Copyright Bert Hansell, 1994

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Susan of DT
Date: 20 Oct 97 - 03:14 PM

try @ghost and @myth in the DT. @myth gets everything from unicorns and witches to the devil

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 20 Oct 97 - 04:25 PM

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out" has lots of variants--I've even heard it with ants instead of worms. My favorite is the pinochle one that Judy mentioned. When I learned this as a child, the version went

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
In your stomach and out your snout,
Except for one that's very shy:
In your ear and out your eye.

Later in the song (most of which I've forgotten) we sang to the tune of the funeral march from Chopin's sonata in B-flat,

Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you,
Simply because they have nothing else to do.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From:
Date: 20 Oct 97 - 05:22 PM

What I always liked about the Pogues' version of Worms is the last line, like it was a drinking song.

Does the Monster Mash count if you play it on acoustic guitar?

Come to think of it, I can't recall any folk songs with nasty ghosts or suchlike creatures. If there are ghosts, they seem to be melancholy ghosts or ghosts come to warn, but nothing really scary about them. This is in contrast to the hair-raising folktales. Wonder why.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jon W.
Date: 20 Oct 97 - 07:25 PM

The Monster Mash may not be folk yet but it's certainly becoming traditional - my 12-year-olds are singing it these days. But I can't remember the first lines of the verse that ends: "the guests included Wolfman, Dracula, and his son." Anybody?

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 21 Oct 97 - 12:26 AM

"The Griesely Bride" and "Mrs. Ravoon" are both in the DT, and both are good spooky songs, one comic, one just frightening.

Subject: Lyr Add: MONSTER MASH (Pickett/Capizzi)^^
From: Charles Colyer
Date: 21 Oct 97 - 03:05 AM

For Jon W.

I found this last night with a few more verses than you asked for:


MONSTER MASH
Written by Bobby Pickett & Leonard Capizzi
As recorded by Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers (1962)

I was working in the lab late one night,
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight,
For my monster from its slab began to rise,
And suddenly, to my surprise,

(He did the mash) He did the monster mash.
(The Monster Mash) It was a graveyard smash.
(He did the mash) It caught on in a flash.
(He did the mash) He did the monster mash.

From my laboratory in the castle east,
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast,
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes.

(They did the mash) They did the monster mash.
(The Monster Mash) It was a graveyard smash.
(They did the mash) It caught on in a flash.
(They did the mash) They did the monster mash.

The zombies were having fun.
the party had just begun.
The guests included Wolfman,
Dracula, and his son.

The scene was rocking; all were digging the sounds:
Igor on chains backed by his baying hounds.
The coffin draggers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, the Crypt-Kicker Five.

(They played the mash) They played the monster mash.
(The Monster Mash) It was a graveyard smash.
(They played the mash) It caught on in a flash.
(They played the mash) They played the monster mash.

Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring.
It seems he was troubled by just one thing,
Opened the lid, and shook his fist, and said:
"Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?"

(It's now the mash) It's now the monster mash.
(The Monster Mash) And it's a graveyard smash.
(It's now the mash) It's caught on in a flash.
(It's now the mash) It's now the monster mash.

Now everything's cool; Drac's a part of the band,
And my monster mash is the hit of the land.
For you, the living, this mash was meant too.
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you.

(Then you can mash) Then you can monster mash,
(The Monster Mash) And do my graveyard smash.
(Then you can mash) You'll catch on in a flash.
(Then you can mash) Then you can monster mash.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 21 Oct 97 - 12:33 PM

One of the few memories I have of grade school is singing this little ditty:

Witches, pumpkin heads, and black cats,
Scary spooks and black bats,
Oh it's Halloween

Halloween's the night
You dress up like a sight
To give your friends a fright
Look out, it's Halloween

Halloween night is the night
When fearful things are seen
Look out, look out, it's Halloween

It might be a round - I can't find two other people who know it so I can't test that theory. Anyone else remember this song?

My favorite Halloween song is Loreena McKennit's "All Souls Night". I remember posting the lyrics to it around this time last year. Wow, I can't believe I've been coming to this site for a whole year! Time flies when you're singing and having fun.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL SOULS' NIGHT^^
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 22 Oct 97 - 08:47 AM

I see the lyrics to All Soul's Night aren't in the DB (it may not be considered a folk song), so here they are:

Bonfires dot the rolling hillside
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse echos of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound

Somewhere in a distant memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and bonfire
And dancing until the next sunrise

Chorus:
I can see the lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing,
A waltz on All Soul's Night

Figures of cornstalks bend in the shadows
Held up tall as the flames leap high
A green knight holds a holly bush
To mark where the old year passes by

Chorus

Bonfires dot the rolling hillside
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound

Standing on the bridge that crosses
The river that goes out to the sea
The wind is full of a thousand voices
They cross by the bridge and me

Chorus

Loreena McKennitt
1992

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 22 Oct 97 - 10:51 AM

Susan-Marie,

one of my research areas is human memory, so I cannot resist to post the following:

"My favorite Halloween song is Loreena McKennit's 'All Soul's Night'. I remember posting the lyrics to it around this time last year", you wrote.

It was 25th of March 1997, thread title "Allsouls night".

(BTW: I sometimes even do not recollect if I have posted or just thought about posting lyrics)

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 22 Oct 97 - 11:43 AM

Wolfgang - You know, I just assumed that it had been a year ago, because this is such a seasonal song. Well, I did say I couldn't believe I'd been coming to this site for a whole year - at least that part was right! ;)

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From:
Date: 22 Oct 97 - 07:34 PM

Remember to end The Monster Mash with the requisite amount of howling and groaning. Otherwise, it would be like singing the Flintstones song without the loud WILMA! at the end.:)

Subject: Lyr Add: ANNE BOLEYN^^^, ISN'T IT GRAND, BOYS^^^
From: judy
Date: 23 Oct 97 - 01:29 AM

Wow! this is all great stuff. The Monster Mash words and a new verse to "the worms crawl in". Great, thanks all.

Speaking of not quite folk, my Celtic group always throws these two in around this time of year:

With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm

In the Tower of London large as life
The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare.
Poor Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he made the headsman bob her hair
Ah, yes he did her wrong long years ago
And she comes up at night to tell him so

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the bloody tower
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour
She comes to haunt King Henry
She means giving him what for
Gadzooks! She's going to tell him off
She's looking very sore;
And just in case the headsman
Wants to give her an encore
She's got her head tucked underneath her arm.

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the bloody tower
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour
The sentries think it's a football
And when they've had a few they shout,
"Is Army going to win?"
They think that it's Red Grange
Instead of poor old Anne Boleyn,
With her head tucked underneath her arm

Sometimes gay King Henry gives a spread
For all his pals and gals, a ghostly crew
The headsman carves the joint and cuts the bread:
Then in comes Anne Boleyn to queer the do,
She holds her head up with a wild war whoop
And Henry cries, "Don't drop it in the soup!"


With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the bloody tower
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour
One night she caught King Henry,
He was in the canteen bar.
Said he, "Are you Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, or Catherine Parr?
For how the sweet Sam Perryham do I know who you are,
With your head tucked underneath your arm!"


Thank you, Janet, for these words (and for teaching us all the rest too)


And consider yourself well snookered before you sing this next one:


Look At the Coffin

Look at the coffin with golden handles
Isn't it grand, boys, to be bloody well dead?

Chorus:
Let's not have a sniffle, let's all have a bloody good cry,
And always remember the longer you live, the sooner you'll bloody well die.

Look at the mourners, bloody great hypocrites,
Isn't it grand ......

Look at the preacher, bloody sanctimonious,
Isn't it grand ......


Sounds like this song could go on a lot longer than just these three verses.

Judy

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 23 Oct 97 - 02:51 PM

You know, I've never actually seen the Anne Boleyn written in standard dialect spelling?

I learned it as: "With 'er 'ead tucked underneath 'er arm."

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 23 Oct 97 - 06:47 PM

Red Grange? That dates THAT song!

If non-folk is sneaking in here, I can't resist mentioning two of my favorite German Lieder, both for All Souls' Day: "Litanei (fur das* Allerseelen)", by Schubert, and "Allerseelen", by Richard Strauss.

*der, die, dem, den? I don't actually know German.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Wolfgang
Date: 24 Oct 97 - 05:46 AM

no article in German with "Allerseelen". Wolfgang

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: JMike
Date: 24 Oct 97 - 10:58 AM

Okay, for the thinning-hair, sagging-waistline, needs-reading-glasses contingent:

On the old "Spin and Marty" serial on the equally old Mickey Mouse Club show there was a ghost stories episode where the English butler (Perkins?) sang/chanted a thing about some ghost (Anne Boleyn?) haunting the tower of London. It wasn't the same as the one already posted, since it had a chorus that started "Clank, clank, clank, I may be cold and dank..."

I don't remember any more except that it was accompanied by clanging some chains and was very spooky (at least to a six year old).

Anyone remember?

JMike

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 24 Oct 97 - 11:46 PM

I know this isn't a folk song per se, but I like having poems mixed in with my repertoire sometimes. Good ones that come immediately to mind are the Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe, and The Cremation of Sam McGee, by Robert Service.

One poem that is on my 'to learn' list is the Goethe poem, Die Erlkonig (the Elf King.) It would work very well at this time of year. It is about a father who loses his young son to a faerie king.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Lidi
Date: 25 Oct 97 - 05:43 AM

To Moira....

Yes, "Der Elkkönig" is a great poem by Goethe. I haven´t looked for it yet on the Net, but I´m sure it´s out there.

I also agree with you when you say that it´s appropriate around this time of the year.....

Slainte

Lidi

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Oct 97 - 03:20 PM

The mention of Goethe's "Erlkönig" (Elf-King) sent me looking, since I wasn't familiar with the poem. I found a great site, loaded with German poetry and fairy tales,
http://www.german-usa.com/gedichte/index.html
I wish I could find a good translation of "Erlkönig," which tells the story of a man riding a horse at night, with his son in his arms. The son hears the elf-king calling him, enticing him with his elfin daughters, who sing and dance and do other things. Sonny-boy tries to explain all this to Daddy, but Daddy doesn't understand until he finds that the kid in his arms is dead. Loses something in my translation, I think.....
Another Goethe poem I came across that is fitting for the season is "Der Zauberlehrling," the Sorcerer's Apprentice. I like Walt Disney's cartoon-translation of this on "Fantasia." Beats the heck out of any translation I could do.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 25 Oct 97 - 03:23 PM

Sorry, the Schubert song is called "Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen".

Of course, "Der Erlkönig" is a song too--or two magnificent songs, by Schubert and by Loewe.

For a poem less familiar (and maybe better) than "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Raven", how about "The Griesly Wife"? By an Australian whose name escapes me, unless it's John Manifold. There's also the Poe parody, "Cannibal Lee".

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Oct 97 - 04:05 PM

Here's a link to both German and English versions of The Elf-King. There's even a MIDI of the tune.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 25 Oct 97 - 08:09 PM

Barry

"A soul a soul a soul cake...."

Was indeed the Watersons on "Frost and Fire" - one of the greatest folk albums I've ever heard.

Regards

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 26 Oct 97 - 01:40 AM

If poems are possibilities, my all-time favourite poem for Halloween is "The Witch of Coos" by Robert Frost, one of the all time great ghost stories. And for folkies, it's got references to "The Wild Colonial Boy" in it.

"Folks think a witch who has familiar spirits
She could call up to pass a winter evening,
But won't, should be burned at the stake or something."
--from "The Witch of Coos"

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From:
Date: 26 Oct 97 - 02:25 PM

There is The Witch of The West-Mer-Lands, by Archie Fisher [on The Man With A Rhyme, now happily released on CD Folk-Legacy CD61) and a very good cover by Stan Rogers on Between The Breaks Live, which I don't have at hand at the moment. It must be admitted that this seems to be a good witch. (This Fisher CD also contains the fine love song Dark Eyed Molly, but that is another matter)

As I have mentioned in other posts, Teresa Doyle's "Forerunner" CD is full of songs she wrote based on PEI ghost stories.

I know some of Poe's poems have been set to music. Back in the seventies, someone had a hit with such an LP, although it was all in that pretentious over-produced 1970s style that drove me from rock to folk. I think it was called Tales of Mystery and Imagination and for all I know is now out on CD. Perhaps with imagination, you could tinker with them and set them for use with an acoustic guitar.

Then there is The Grey Cock, which is in the database. I have a good version by Chris Foster. There is a Nova Scotia version with a different name, from the Creighton Collection I believe, done by Catherine MacKinnon on one of her early LPs but I don't know if it is out of CD. (Speaking of Helen Creighton, she also collected a book of Nova Scotia ghost stories, full of headless ladies in grey and suchlike. It is called "Bluenose Ghosts.")

Stompin' Tom Conners did a version of The Cremation of Sam McGee, as did Hank Snow (I think). It is a little too upbeat and merry for a Halloween song.

I suppose there is also Giant, by Stan Rogers.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Steve D.
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 08:35 AM

I reckon Tam Lyn (as sung by Mike Waterson) aka Young Tambling (Anne Briggs) counts as a pretty good Halloween song and one which I'd love to be able to remember all of the words to. Boys of Bedlam is suitably spooky to go down well too.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: rechal
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 01:04 PM

Here's a fragment of a poem that should be familiar -- I can't remember who wrote it or what it's called.

Ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night

Subject: Lyr Add: STOLEN CHILD (W.B. Yeats, L McKennitt)^^
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 01:09 PM

After reading the words to the Elf King, I was reminded of Loreena McKennitt's arrangement of Yeat's Poem "Stolen Child" on her album "Elemental". Similar story, less sinister rendering:

STOLEN CHILD

Lyrics by W.B. Yeats; music by Loreena McKennitt

Where dips the rocky highland
Of sleuth wood in the lake
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats
There we've hid our fairy vats
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.

CHORUS
Come away oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim grey sands with light
By far off furthest rosses
We foot it all the night
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles
Whilst the world is full of troubles
And is anxious in its sleep.

CHORUS

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above glen car
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.

CHORUS

Away with us he's going
The solemned eyed
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace unto his breast
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.

CHORUS(last time)
For he comes, the human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: LaMarca
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 05:10 PM

Michael Smith (best known for "The Dutchman" and "Spoon River") wrote a hauntingly beautiful song called "Vampire"; it's sung from the vampire's point of view. It's been recorded by him and by Claudia Schmidt; I'll try to look up the words at home.

In the same vein (so to speak) as "Monster Mash" is reggae master Lee Scratch Perry's "Secret Laboratory (Dancehall Monster)":
Rockin' and reelin' and havin' a ball
Swingin' and singin' straight jacket and all,
He's a dancehall monster...

Then there's always Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London":
I saw a werewolf drinkin' a pina colada at Trader Vic's;
His hair was perfect...
David Lindley covered this as a reggae number on his album "Very Greasy" (OK, OK, I'll go back to folk...)

Subject: Lyr Add: WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH HER ARM
From: Charles Colyer
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 06:50 PM

Here are the original words to "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm":

WITH HER HEAD TUCKED UNDERNEATH HER ARM
Words by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee Music by Harris Weston

In the Tower of London large as life,
The ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare.
Poor Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife
Until he made the headsman bob her hair!
Ah, yes he did her wrong long years ago
And she comes up at night to tell him so

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour.
She comes to haunt King Henry; she means giving him "what for."
Gadzooks, she's going to tell him off for having spilt her gore,
And just in case the Headsman wants to give her an encore
She has her head tucked underneath her arm!

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour.
Along the draughty corridors for miles and miles she goes,
She often catches cold, poor thing; it's cold there when it blows,
And it's awf'lly awkward for the Queen to have to blow her nose
With her head tucked underneath her arm!

Sometimes gay King Henry gives a spread
For all his pals and gals, a ghostly crew.
The headsman carves the joint and cuts the bread.
Then in comes Anne Boleyn to "queer" the "do";
She holds her head up with a wild war whoop
And Henry cries, "Don't drop it in the soup!"

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour.
The sentries think that it's a football that she carries in
And when they've had a few they shout, "Is Ars'nal going to win?"
They think it's Alec James instead of poor old Anne Boleyn,
With her head tucked underneath her arm.

With her head tucked underneath her arm
She walks the Bloody Tower!
With her head tucked underneath her arm
At the midnight hour.
One night she caught King Henry; he was in the Canteen Bar.
Said he, "Are you Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn, or Catherine Parr?
For how the sweet san fairy ann do I know who you are
With your head tucked underneath your arm!"

copyright 1934 by Francis, Day & Hunter, Ltd.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: John Nolan
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 07:00 PM

I always enjoy Matt McGinn's Dundee Ghost - if it's not in the database I'll post it. At this time of year, the old Incredible String Band favorite, October Song, comes to mind, as well. Incidentally, Barry, very impressive italics up above there, and accidental too. Woooooo!

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Barry
Date: 27 Oct 97 - 09:01 PM

Thanks, John, nothing I couldn't do again by accident. Thought I'd toss out the Wild Boar or The Jovial Hunter or Sir Lionel or ...... It's in the DT & I think it was thread-involved a while back...... From the seas, a ghost that goes back ways, The Flying Dutchman. A bit closer to home, from the Salem witch trials, comes Susanna Martin, written by John Allison & put to tune by Claudine Langille, she recorded it on The New Land when there was a Touchstone back in 1982. Another one close to home, from the port of Gloucester, concerning the Grand Banks fisheries, comes The Ghostly Crew. The dead crew boards the schooner that ran them down on a prior voyage & then they slip back over the side as they near land. Barry

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 12:12 AM

a while back we did a thread on the Don McLean song.."On the Amazon"... great for Halloween...go here for the short thread.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 28 Oct 97 - 11:00 PM

Heavens, there's a THIRD melody for "Der Erlkönig"? (Actually, maybe it's the first.) Too bad my computer can't play it. I hate to keep being pedantic (I'm lying), but don't take "The Elf-King" on faith as the correct translation. You can apparently make as good a case for "The Alder King" or for leaving it untranslated as "The Erl King". (Possibly related to a Duke?)

On Bryn Terfel's excellent album of Schubert lieder, An die Musik, he does this song with a remarkable scary, nasty Erl King voice.

The album Tales of Mystery and Imagination was by the Alan Parsons Project, in that interestingly produced '70s style that Parsons didn't do quite as well as some others.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Oct 97 - 04:05 AM

Well, Jerry, my Cassell's translates "Erlkönig" as "Elf King," but doesn't give a root for the word or any further explanation. My German-German dictionary says it's derived from the Danish "ellerkonge," with a German meaning "Elfenkönig." And we all know that "Elf" is the number right after "Zehn," but I'll go with "elf king." I do get the impression these elves may not be the cute little guys we think of.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: FANNY POWER (W.B. Yeats, T O'Carolan)^^
From: judy
Date: 29 Oct 97 - 04:10 PM

All this talking about traditional ghost songs reminded me of one about a ghost who comes to visit his lover who doesn't know that he's dead. It includes the folklore that the ghost can only stay until the break of day. They find her dead of a broken heart the next day (sniffle)

I learned this from a fellow up in San Francisco about 10-15 years ago. It would be just right if he sees this.
Some verses are sung to the A part of the music and some to the B part

FANNY POWER
words: W.B. Yeats
music: Turloch O'Carolan

Verse I (music part A)
When all but dreaming was Fanny Power
A light came streaming from out her bower
A heavy thought at her door delayed
A heavy hand on the latch was layed

Verse II (music part A)
Now who dare venture at this dark hour
Unbid to enter my maiden bower
"Oh, Fanny, open the door to me
And your true lover you'll surely see"

Verse III (music part B)
"My own true lover so tall and brave
He lives in next isle o'er the angry wave"
"Your true love's body lies on the pier,
"His faithful spirit is with you here."

Verse IV (music part B)
"Oh, his look was cheerful and his voice was gay,
Your face is fearful and your speech is gray
And sad and tearful your eye of blue
Ah, but Patrick, Patrick, alas tis you"

Verse V (music part A)
The dawn was breaking, she heard below
The two cocks shaking their wings to crow
"Oh, hush you! hush you! both red and gray
Or will you hurry my love away?"

Verse VI (music part B)
"Oh, hush your crowin', both gray and red
Or he will be goin' to join the dead
And cease you calling his ghost to the mold
And I'll come crowning your wings with gold"

Verse VII (music part A)
When all but dreaming was Fanny Power
A light came streaming beneath her bower
And on the morrow when they awoke
They knew that sorrow, her heart had broke.

(play music part B)

"spirit"ually yours judy

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 29 Oct 97 - 08:34 PM

What about the old traditional classic ballad, "The Unquiet Grave", or even "She moves through the fair"?

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: alison
Date: 29 Oct 97 - 09:58 PM

Hi,

Speaking of "she moved through the fair", have a look in the database for "Our wedding day".

Any chance of the tune for "With her head tucked underneath her arm," I can only remember the tune for the chorus.

Slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From:
Date: 30 Oct 97 - 10:16 PM

The song about the ghost who comes back to his lover and can only stay until daybreak is The Grey Cock. There are variants under other names but the storyline is the same.

Then there is The Black Fox, which is in the database, where the fox hunters find out that the fox they are chasing is the devil.

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: judy
Date: 31 Oct 97 - 02:53 AM

Tim: There's lots of ghostly folklore stories with this theme. Then there are all those other ones (in the DT) like Polly Vaughn where the girl turns into a swan and is shot by her boyfriend. "She'd her apron wrapped about her and I took her for a swan. And it's oh, and alas, it was she, Polly Vaughn"
I know a French song where the brother hunts the white stag in the woods with his friends, kills it, serves it for dinner, and asks where his sister is. (Have you guessed it?) She says my head is in the plate, my blood is all over the kitchen and my bones are in the fire. See ADD LYRICS: Complainte de la Blanche Biche

Alison: Sorry I don't know how to send music yet. I'm sure someone knows where you can hear it. It's a great tune.
Charles: How could we do without the verse where Anne Boleyn has to blow her nose? Thanx

judy

Subject: RE: halloween songs
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 31 Oct 97 - 04:27 PM

On the subject of lieder (which I was on if nobody else was), how could I have forgotten Schubert's "Death and the Maiden"?

Joe, I've read the same thing, that "Erlkönig" comes from the Danish "ellerkonge", meaning "Elf king", but that doesn't mean that a German understands "Elf king" when he/she hears "Erlkönig". It might be like saying that "electricity" means "amber", since it comes from the Greek word for amber.