TRACK #370:

Freaky Halloween by EJ Rock

On several occasions now I have spoken about a hard to find or incomplete song, and that has somehow seemed to simply manifest that song into availability.

The first instance was with the woefully truncated Title Track to Aerobicide. This one took years, but was finally uncovered and restored to its full glory by Giles Nuytens. Thank him. Hit like and subscribe and all of that. He’s out there in these streets doin’ the Lord’s work.

The second instance was Bit Bizzare’s Freddy Krueger rap Freddie’s Groove, a rare Hip-Hop single which also existed in an incomplete form on YouTube and was hard come by on vinyl. Shortly after our Freddy’s Rap episode and posting it to the Freddy’s Raps playlists, two different copies of the 45 suddenly presented themselves. One of these now has a permanent residence in the Halloween Hole and has thusly been uploaded to YouTube and the Freddy Raps playlist.

Similarly, the 3rd occurrence was with another Freddy Rap entitled He’s Back from LA’s own Triple Scoop. Shortly after expressing my disappointment about not being able to include that song on the same playlist, a copy not only appeared on Discogs, but some kind soul uploaded it to Youtube as well. Thank the maker.

So now, rather than avoiding tonight’s song again for yet another year, I’m just gonna let her rip, in hopes that whatever synchronistic hoodoo is going on around here can maybe work it’s magic once again.

Because for many, many years now, this song has been the Holy Grail of Halloween Shindig.

Freaky Halloween? An Electro Rap tune from 1987 specifically about Halloween? Are you kidding me? Any rap song specifically about Halloween is rare enough, but something of this nature, from this era? It had to be great.

But alas, years and years passed and I had yet to come across a single copy for sale. Only 2 registered users on Discog even owned it. 42 other users wanted it, and yet not 1 has ever sold on the platform in its 22 years of existence.

It is a song so elusive, I didn’t even know what it sounded like…

…until last year, that is.

See, in early 2022, some remarkable person took their rare 45 of EJ Rock’s Freaky Halloween and graciously uploaded it to YouTube. And it’s glorious. It’s everything I had hoped it could be and more, but…

There’s always a “but,” isn’t there?

See, this guy not only recorded it through what sounded like the microphone on his cellphone, but he only uploaded a minute’s worth of the song! What kind of sick joke is this, sir?! You have, in your possession one of the rarest Halloween songs known to man, and a YouTube channel, and the wherewithal to upload the track, and this is the treatment you afford it?

I suppose we should be grateful that we have it at all. And I am, please don’t misunderstand me. But, in a way, it’s almost worse now. See, when I didn’t know what it sounded like, it was still a mystery. It still had the chance to be whack. But it’s not whack! It’s fantastic! And now curious desire has been replaced with desperate need. Desperate need that can not be satiated.

And look, I begged him. He’s in Brazil, I believe. I used multiple accounts to request he upload the full song. I even pleaded with him in Portuguese to give this song to the world, fully. But at present, he has not acquiesced.

This playlist will never be complete in my eyes without this song. This full song.

If anyone reading this post has this 45, I will pay handsomely for it. If you can not part with it, I completely understand. But could you please make a decent rip of this song and send it to The Shindig. I’d pay just as handsomely for that. Even if you don’t own it and just have access to it – please! Access it for the team, champ!

Hell, maybe can we all just go to this guy’s YouTube and kindly request he post the full song? Even with his shitty phone recording. I’d take that at this point, just to hear the rest of the song. It’s a Freaky Halloween, and goddamn it, we need to know why!

The Shindig needs this song.
You need this song.
The World needs this song.

Please help Halloween Shindig make this and all future Halloweens, freaky.

Until then, let us bask in what little exists of Ernest Jordan’s electro-rap masterpiece Freaky Halloween.

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Now, this is all you would have read and heard, had I posted this last year when it was supposed to post. Indeed, it’s all you would have read if I had posted this 3 weeks ago…

Because that is when the hoodoo apparently worked it’s magic yet again. Just sitting in the draft folder for almost 3 years, this post stirred the spirits. And like some summoned Halloween miracle, the very same guy on YouTube, DJTuta from Brazil, posted his 45 for sale on Discogs. Get right outta town.

Of course, he posted it for an absolutely unconscionable amount of money. Well, at least for a price that was completely unjustifiable to me. The dream was shattered.

So I began to soothe myself, “C’mon. No one is gonna pay that much for Freaky Halloween. It’ll sit there unsold, he’ll eventually mark it down, and then you can rush in! It’s yours, just be patient.”

But what if it didn’t just sit there unsold? Was that a risk I was willing to take?

After a few days went by with no one purchasing the record, I was feeling reassured. But I started getting paranoid, too. I had been down this road before with other rare items. If something, even something rare,  is available and every time you check on it it’s still available, you can become complacent and you drag your feet. But then bam! All of a sudden and before you know it, it’s gone. You have to just accept you had a chance and you squandered it and now you’re waiting again. What if that happened here?

Only 47 (apparently 5 more people had expressed interest in the last 2 years) other people “wanted” it on Discogs, and that’s not that many. But it was still 46 chances for someone to swoop in and scoop it up. What if this was our only chance? What if it got purchased and hoarded again and we never got to even really hear it?! What if someone else out there decided they needed Freaky Halloween more than Halloween Shindig needed Freaky Halloween?!!

Well, fuck all that business. No one needs Freaky Halloween more than Halloween Shindig, goddamn it! And The Shindig will democratize its availability and make sure that the whole world receives it, uncut and clear! This was what this site was made for, and this is what needed to be done.

But that price. That goddamn price. We simply couldn’t pay it. It was just completely unjustifiable.

But…

There’s always another “but.” We wouldn’t be talking about this still if there wasn’t another “but,” right?

Because that’s when I remembered – The Shindig coffers! Of course!!

See, there’s a specific PayPal account where all the Redbubble, TeePublic, Zazzle, Ko-Fi and Shindig Shop sales just deposit to, and it’s not my main PayPal account. It’s an account I hadn’t actually looked at in almost 4 years. And holy shit. It was possible.

Why, if not for this very reason, was there even an account? Why, if not for this express purpose, had people ever supported this foolish endeavor of ours? Why, if not to make that which is unobtainable to one, accessible to all through the power of many?

If you have ever purchased a die-cut, a sticker, a Title Tracks T-Shirt, a Shindig Radio dog blanket, a throw pillow with Kyle’s face on it, or simply given us a few buck just for the fuck of it – then this is for you. This super rare and almost unobtainium piece of Halloween music exists on this website, in its complete form and for the entire world to enjoy, because of you. All of you.

My endless gratitude goes out to each and every person who has ever contributed anything to this fund. You have made this Halloween aspiration – an aspiration you were not even aware existed – come to fruition, in the clutch, when it was absolutely needed the most. And for that, I thank you.

And you should thank each other. Because of you all, this Halloween, and every Halloween hereafter, will be a Freaky Halloween.

 

PS: Oh, and the song?  C’mon, that synth bass? That chorus? This horn bag slangin’ it to this chick on Halloween? It’s a straight up Halloween sex song, and it’s incredible. Count Dracula, who sucked me dry? Get the fuck outta here. I love this shit. It’s so much more than I could have hoped.