TRACK #424

The Witch by The Casuals

Well, there’s certainly no shortage of songs simply titled The Witch. What can I say? Despite the reputation and all the, ya know, creating, musicians don’t seem terribly creative sometimes.

All that aside, our 4th witch tune of the week is perhaps the most explicit depiction of a straight up evil witch we’ve yet heard.

A black eyed queen who’s the devil’s machine, with icy fingers flying through the night is what The Casuals describe to us. The phrase “hocus pocus” is used, there’s some cackles talked about and even a classic reference to MacBeth is tossed in for good measure. Also, she’ll bewitch anyone that’s not inside. Thanks for the heads up, gang!

Now, this is a pretty rocking song for The Casuals. Formed in the early 60’s, this British Pop band performed more mellow, dare I say casual, listening music. They saw a lot of personnel changes over the years, recorded in Italy for a bit and had a pretty bit hit in ‘68 with their song Jesamine.

By 1974 though, they’re releasing this tune, which one YouTuber described as “proto-Iron Maiden” and once I read that I couldn’t unhear it. The commenter also suggests it would have been cool if Maiden had covered it, and I agree. This tune rocks and hearing Steve Harris gallop his way through that bassline while Bruce belts out “the witch will bewitch you if you’re not inside!” would be killer.

As it stands though, we got The Casuals doing it and that’s plenty good enough for our Halloween purposes.