This is part of a blog I wrote years ago, but I revisit it and try to update it a bit each year.
Like most families, Halloween and Christmas have always been big at our house. Lisa and the kids are on the Halloween side, while I'm with Santa.
I learned long ago not to try and convert any of them. I think what happened at Disneyland once illustrates it best. In one of the studios at California Adventure, you can use this machine to determine which hero or villain you are.
I was Tarzan. All three of them were villains.
Like most families, Halloween and Christmas have always been big at our house. Lisa and the kids are on the Halloween side, while I'm with Santa.
I learned long ago not to try and convert any of them. I think what happened at Disneyland once illustrates it best. In one of the studios at California Adventure, you can use this machine to determine which hero or villain you are.
I was Tarzan. All three of them were villains.
Oh, well. They love me, anyway.
So as we move toward October, I'm super-busy working on the new season of the Sounds of Christmas. While the station stays on year-round, it goes through a big change every October. The Sounds of Christmas becomes the Sounds of Halloween from October 1 through Halloween night.
I admit, mostly, it started out as something just for my family, while I kicked the tires and otherwise made sure everything was set to go for the coming season. But over the years, I've found there are a lot of other people that love Halloween, too, so I've expanded the playlist (a lot) and hope you have a good time with the Sounds of Halloween.
With all that said, what exactly is Halloween music?
Some of it is pretty obvious. Monster Mash. Purple People Eater. Ghostbusters. Songs about things you associate with Halloween - ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires and witches. Some are scary stories, and some are about candy or trick-or-treating.
I also include songs from scary movies and TV shows. Some of those are pretty creepy. And some are funny. Many are in-between.
While there are some kids' songs (like The Count from Sesame Street), a few of the songs do have bad language. And some of the themes of some songs are straight out of horror movies, and those probably aren't for little kids, either.
On the Sounds of Christmas, I play many versions of many songs, so you won't just hear Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas". You'll hear lots of different singers and bands, old and new, offering their wake on that classic. I do the same thing with the Halloween tunes. For example, I have over two dozen versions of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" (though I may not get to all of them this year, as I try to separate songs and artists so you don't hear the same songs and same voices over and over).
During the Sounds of Halloween, you'll hear from many of your favorite Christmas music singers and bands, including Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mannheim Steamroller and even Bruce Springsteen!
There are songs about Killer Tomatoes, Black Magic Women and Haunted Houses. There are also songs about Alien Invasions, Invisible Men and around thirty takes on "I Put A Spell On You" (I probably won't get to all of those, either).
I play lots of Disney songs, from movie villains and from spooky shows on Disney Plus. I also have at least half a dozen songs from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
To give you a better idea, here are a dozen of the songs I listened to from the Sounds of Halloween library as I put this blog together...
Jimmy Buffett "Desperation Samba (Halloween In Tijuana)"
Paul Simon "The Werewolf"
Erutan "Come Little Children"
Rush "The Twilight Zone"
Five Man Electrical Band "Werewolf"
Florence + the Machine "Call Me Cruella"
The Polyphonic Spree "Over At The Frankenstein Place"
Lynn Anderson "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"
Bo Diddley "Bo Meets The Monster"
Idina Menzel "Beast"
Heaven 17 "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Elvis Costello "Let Him Dangle"
Hope you enjoy this upcoming celebration of Halloween during the month of October! And then the new season of the Sounds of Christmas will be here!
May you always believe in Santa Claus (and also the Great Pumpkin)!
Ken
P.S. - To listen, just go to our home page (or click LISTEN NOW above) and click on the player. For some reason, the player isn't showing up on some browsers, so you can also just click on the tree which will give you a pop-up player. And you can search for us in the Google Play store and get our free app for your Android Phone and take us along with you!
So as we move toward October, I'm super-busy working on the new season of the Sounds of Christmas. While the station stays on year-round, it goes through a big change every October. The Sounds of Christmas becomes the Sounds of Halloween from October 1 through Halloween night.
I admit, mostly, it started out as something just for my family, while I kicked the tires and otherwise made sure everything was set to go for the coming season. But over the years, I've found there are a lot of other people that love Halloween, too, so I've expanded the playlist (a lot) and hope you have a good time with the Sounds of Halloween.
With all that said, what exactly is Halloween music?
Some of it is pretty obvious. Monster Mash. Purple People Eater. Ghostbusters. Songs about things you associate with Halloween - ghosts, monsters, werewolves, vampires and witches. Some are scary stories, and some are about candy or trick-or-treating.
I also include songs from scary movies and TV shows. Some of those are pretty creepy. And some are funny. Many are in-between.
While there are some kids' songs (like The Count from Sesame Street), a few of the songs do have bad language. And some of the themes of some songs are straight out of horror movies, and those probably aren't for little kids, either.
On the Sounds of Christmas, I play many versions of many songs, so you won't just hear Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas". You'll hear lots of different singers and bands, old and new, offering their wake on that classic. I do the same thing with the Halloween tunes. For example, I have over two dozen versions of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" (though I may not get to all of them this year, as I try to separate songs and artists so you don't hear the same songs and same voices over and over).
During the Sounds of Halloween, you'll hear from many of your favorite Christmas music singers and bands, including Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mannheim Steamroller and even Bruce Springsteen!
There are songs about Killer Tomatoes, Black Magic Women and Haunted Houses. There are also songs about Alien Invasions, Invisible Men and around thirty takes on "I Put A Spell On You" (I probably won't get to all of those, either).
I play lots of Disney songs, from movie villains and from spooky shows on Disney Plus. I also have at least half a dozen songs from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
To give you a better idea, here are a dozen of the songs I listened to from the Sounds of Halloween library as I put this blog together...
Jimmy Buffett "Desperation Samba (Halloween In Tijuana)"
Paul Simon "The Werewolf"
Erutan "Come Little Children"
Rush "The Twilight Zone"
Five Man Electrical Band "Werewolf"
Florence + the Machine "Call Me Cruella"
The Polyphonic Spree "Over At The Frankenstein Place"
Lynn Anderson "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"
Bo Diddley "Bo Meets The Monster"
Idina Menzel "Beast"
Heaven 17 "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
Elvis Costello "Let Him Dangle"
Hope you enjoy this upcoming celebration of Halloween during the month of October! And then the new season of the Sounds of Christmas will be here!
May you always believe in Santa Claus (and also the Great Pumpkin)!
Ken
P.S. - To listen, just go to our home page (or click LISTEN NOW above) and click on the player. For some reason, the player isn't showing up on some browsers, so you can also just click on the tree which will give you a pop-up player. And you can search for us in the Google Play store and get our free app for your Android Phone and take us along with you!
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