Dickie Goodman – Halloween Shindig

TRACK #343:

Horror Movies by Dickie Goodman

There’s so many “Hey, girls get scared at horror movies, so maybe I can cop a feel” tunes that they could probably sustain their own mini-playlist.

Hell, the most universally recognized and beloved song on this playlist is kinda exactly that sorta tune. Referential sure (if mostly in a generic kinda way) but really just about a girl getting so scared they let ya get to second base maybe without putting up too much of a fuss. Now, how believable all of that is coming from the King of Pop, I’ll leave for you to decide

For now, I’ll spare you that mini-playlist and even some of the songs that might be on it, but I’ll rock a block of these fuckers cause, hey, that’s just the kinda ship we run around here. And off the bow of a course-correcting jam from Skyhooks seems like the perfect time.

We mentioned Dickie Goodman a while back, and he’s a pretty big wheel down at the Novelty Monster Song factory. Hell, the guy could even be considered the Grandfather of Sampling. See, Dickie made it big releasing what he called “Break-In Songs.”

Dickie would conduct an interview of sorts, with say, Frankenstein, and the responses would be in the form of samples from popular music at the time. They were a pretty big hit.

As clever and innovative as that was for the time, it doesn’t necessarily make for good playlist listening. Thankfully for us, Dickie cut some real songs too, and one of them just happens to be Referential Monster Song.

However, if you happen to be a Novelty Monster Song fanatic, you might think this tune sounds strikingly similar to the 1964 Jekyll and Hyde tune, My Baby Loves Monster Movies

And that because it’s basically the same song. It was even written and performed by Dickie as well. Outside of some differences of arrangement, and the line “Horror Movies” being changed to “Monster Movies,” it’s pretty much the same tune. Now, why he did this and released it under a different name is beyond me, but it certainly seems to be the case. His son Jon released a biography about him in 2000 called the King of Novelty. Maybe there’s an answer in there somewhere. I’ll keep you posted.

Dickie continued to make Break-In records for the better part of 30 years, covering contemporary events from the moon landing to The Watergate scandal and films like Frankenstein and Jaws. His break-ins even reached into the 80’s with songs like Hey E.T. and The Return of the Jedi Returns.

Unfortunately, at the age of 55, Dickie took his own life in the winter of 1989. Though he did live to see sampling utilized in the most unprecedented of ways (and was himself sued for using unlicensed material) he didn’t quite get to see just how ubiquitous sampling would become or just how much legal controversy it would stir.

What he left behind though was a legacy of innovation, parody and fun and a Monster Song so nice, he went and recorded it twice.

Here’s the man himself, The King of Novelty, lamenting that he can’t compete with those gnarly monsters his girl just goes crazy over in Horror Movies.

TRACK #331:

The Night Before Halloween by Bill Buchanan

I often see people lament, upon hearing a new Halloween Song, that there just isn’t enough Halloween music in the world.

This is understandable. It’s definitely not as ubiquitous as Christmas music, cause radio stations and stores aren’t exactly blasting that shit the minute the autumnal equinox hits. And there’s certainly not nearly as much of it, but it’s out there. You’d never know it, cause no one plays it, but it’s around. And there’s a decent amount of it too.

I mean, we literally just cleared 330 tracks on The Shindig here. Now granted, the lion’s share of those songs are not specifically Halloween songs. However, thanks to my handy category search it’s easy to determine (unless, of course, I forgot to tag something properly and you‘re nice and patient) that a good 64 of those songs are specifically Halloween songs, give or take a couple that aren’t really talking about Halloween. But they probably say it, and hey that’s worth something, right?

And I know, that’s really a drop in the pumpkin compared to Christmas songs, and there certainly isn’t enough, I’ll agree with that. But that’s more than those people probably think there are, and there’s plenty, and I mean plenty, more Halloween songs I have yet to, or will ever, include on this playlist.

What I mean to say, which I already sort of said before I said all that other stuff I probably didn’t even need to say, is that they’re out there, you just gotta look. Or, just get on over to Halloween Shindig, cause we do the lookin’ for ya.

Take tonight’s song for example. Here we have the best of both worlds and there’s a good chance you’re not familiar with this tune. I wasn’t for many years and I run a damn Halloween music blog. It’s shameful probably, but I eventually found it, stuck it in the old bullpen, and tonight is it’s night to shine!

Because well, it’s the night before Halloween! Ya know, Cabbage Night…

or Devil’s Night, Mischief Night, Corn Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Beggar’s Night or whatever the hell goofball, homespun regional nonsense the town you grew up in decided to call the night before the already the night before an actual holiday.

What’s that business all about? Seriously, how far back does this shit stretch? Does the 29th get its own fuckin’ name? Is that Grabber’s Night? Or is that too close to Goosey Night? What about the 28th? Can’t it be a night too? How bout Tugger’s Night? Where does this shit end?

Whatever it is you call this night, which for some reason has it own goddamn name too, here’s a song all about it. It’s a play on the old Night Before Christmas poem, with a Halloween twist, from singer/songwriter Bill Buchanan.

Bill is probably best known for his break-in style novelty record team-ups with none other than Halloween compilation staple Dickie Goodman. We’ve yet to feature any Dickie Goodman on the playlist, but he’s actually got a song slated for somewhere in the 330’s, so we’ll be hearing from him real soon. At least in Playlist time, anyway.

This tune came before Bill ever hooked up with Dickie though, way back in 1962. The B-side to this 45 was a song called Beware, and it’s a pretty boppin’ Vampire-Halloweener in its own right.

For now though, we’re gonna keep it timely, and wish you all a Happy Whatever the Fuck Night with The Night Before Halloween.

Enjoy!