Halloween Songs [1]

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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