Okay, here is my ultimate Halloween Music list. I broke it down, roughly, by type of music but there’s a lot of crossover so browse through each category. Much of this is available on iTunes and Amazon, but I’ve included some recommendations for CD collections. Hope you all find this useful and have a Happy Hallowe’en!
INSTRUMENTALS
Great Pumpkin Waltz - Vince Guaraldi
Linus and Lucy – Vince Guaraldi
Hall of the Mountain Grill – Hawkwind
Brian Eno – In Dark Trees
Out of Limits – The Marketts
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group
In Fall - The Dirty Three
Pumpkin Head Escapes - The Fall
The Knight, the Devil, and Death - The Fall
Black Monk Theme - The Fall
Banshee Beach – The Ghastly Ones
Swinging on Pier 13 - The Bomboras
Buffy the Vampie Slayer – Nerf Herder
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Theme) – The Civil Tones (ethereal, liquid, surf instrumental version of the TV theme)
Hollywood Nocturne – The Ghastly Ones
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo – Bela Fleck
Phantasm – Captain Zorro
Tubular Bells - The Book of Love
Tubular Bells 1 & 2 – Mike Oldfield
Wicked Witch of the East - Scarlet Rivera
Quatermass - Kill Van Helsing (Rockin’ surf version of the Quatermass movie theme)
Half Light - Low with Tomandandy
Halloween Americana - Everclear
Theme from Kolchak - The Night Stalker
Red Asphalt - Pollo Del Mar
Hollywood Nocturne - The Ghastly Ones
The Ballade of the Headless Horseman - The Route 66 Killers
Playa De Los Muertos - The Bomboras
The Munsters Theme - Los Straitjackets
The Simpsons Halloween Special Theme
Spookhouse - Voldar
Guitar Noire - Aqua Velvets
A Fistful of Terror – The Bomboras
Werewolves on Wheels – Born Losers
CLASSICAL
(A good CD for a lot of these is FRIGHT NIGHT: MUSIC THAT GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT. Mannheim Steamroller also has juiced-up versions of these and original music and sound effects on their CDs)
Danse Macabre - Saint-Saens
In the Hall of the Mountain King – Grieg
Funeral March of a Marionette – Gounod (Alfred Hitchcock’s theme)
The Sorceror’s Apprentice – Dukas
Witch’s Ride from Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck
March to the Scaffold from Symphone Fantastique by Berlioz
Mars – Bringer of War from The Planets by Holst (used in “Alien”)
Mephisto Waltz - Liszt
Halloween – Charles Ives
Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor - Bach
Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky)
The Haunted Organ Suite – Verne Langdon (great Don Post mask maker was also a great organist) – from the Hallloween Spooktacular Album, which also includes Langdon backing up John Carradine’s Edgar Allen Poe readings
COUNTRY-WESTERN/ BLUEGRASS
Walking After Midnight - Patsy Cline
13 – Johnny Cash
Gary Gilmore's Eyes - The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
The Angel of Death (last song he ever recorded – also covered by Shane MacGowan)
Ghost Riders in the Sky - The Ramrods
Ghost Train - The Bad Livers
Ghost Riders in the Sky - Johnny Cash
O Death - Ralph Stanley
Ghost of the Benson Stage – Griz Green
FOLK MUSIC / WORLD BEAT
Are You Happy Now - Richard Shindell (The ultimate Halloween break-up / morning after song)
Finnegan's Wake - The Clancy Brothers
All Souls Night – Loreena McKennitt
Count Dracula – Robbie the Werewolf
Lucifer – Robbie the Werewolf
Rockin’ Werewold – Robbie the Werewolf
Streets of Transylvania – Robbie the Werewolf
Tiptoe Through the Wolfbane – Robbie the Werewolf
Vampire Man – Robbie the Werewolf
Whatever Happened to Halloween – The Vinyl Goods
Zydeco Gris-Gris – Beuasoleil
Harvest Hymn – The Wild Mountain Thyme (An apocalyptic religious harvest hymn!)
Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana) – Jimmy Buffett (I like this.)
Lost in Autumn – The Sea and Cakes
When October Goes – Megan McDonough
SPOKEN WORD
(Check out the CDs HORRORS: A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Garrison Keillor); HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR (John Carradine reading Poe with Verne Langdon on the Pipe Organ – I wanted this when I saw it in the back pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND as a kid, and now it’s on CD! And CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF RABIES – Edgar Allen Poe readings with gloomy rock soundtracks)
Halloween - Jerry Seinfeld
The Raven (Poe) - Read by Garrison Keillor
Ulalume (Poe) - Read by John Carradine
Funerary Verse – Garrison Keillor, et al
The Raven (Poe) - read by Christopher Walken
The Groon – written and read by Ray Bradbury
Ulalume (Poe) - Read by Jeff Buckley
The Masque of Read Death – read by Gabriel Byrne
The Tell-tale Heart (Poe) read by Iggy Pop
The Conqueror Worm (Poe) read by Ken Nordine
The Black Cat (Poe) – read by Diamanda Galas
The Haunted Palace – read by Ed Sanders
ROCK & ROLL / R&B / ROCKABILLY / DOO-*** / SOUL
(Good sources for a lot of these tracks: The Ultimate Rockin’ Halloween Party (available on iTunes); The Buffalo Bop rock-n-roll horror CDs HORROR HOP and MONSTER BOP; the essential HALLOWEEN HOOTENANNY CD; MONSTER ROCK ‘N ROLL SHOW (also has lots of radio spot promos for vintage horror movies;
Zombie Jamboree – Lord Invader and his 12 Penetrators (1956 calypso – numerous covers by Harry Belafonte and the Kingston Trio, even a version by The Charmer – which was the calypso stage name for Louis Farrakhan!)
Igor’s Party – Tony’s Monstrosities
Castin' My Spell - Johnny Otis
Slippin’ Into Darkness – War
Horror Movies – Dickie Goodman
The Birds – The Motivations
Witch Queen of New Orleans – Redbone
Frankenstein Returns, Parts 1 & 2 – Buchanan and Goodman
Dry Bones Twist – The Drivers
At the House of Frankenstein – Big Bee Kornegay
Night Mare – Billy Sills
The Zoo – Micky Lee Lane
The Mummy’s Bracelet – Lee Ross
Monster Holiday – Lon Chaney, Jr. (Also a Xmas song!)
The Monster – Evans Carroll
Teenage Creature – Lord Luther
Shudders and Screams – Ben Colder
The Mortal Monster Man – The Savoys
Black Widow Spider Woman – Jack Hammer
Mad Witch – Dave Gardner
Night Mares – John Sowell
Vampira – Bobby Bare
Voo Doo Woman – Smiley Smith
Graveyard Rock – Tarantula Goul
Werewolf – The Frantics
Wombie Zombie – Billy Taylor
Jungle Hop – Kip Taylor
Moon Madness – Pasquale and the Lunar Tiks
Creature From Outer Space – Sonny Day
Amazon – Phil Carter
Rockin’ in the Graveyard – Jackie Morningstar
Were Wolf – Carl Bonafede
Caveman Hop – Jerry Coulston
The Cat – Rod Willis
Midnight Monsters Hop – Jack and Jim
Nightmare – Scottie Stuart
Graveyeard – Leroy Bowman
The Skeleton Fight – Mack Allen Smith
The Monster Hop – Johnny Dee
Story That’s True – Carl Bonafede
The Gorilla – Bert Convy (Yes, that Bert Convy)
Leopard Man – Joe Wallace
Nightmare Hop – Earl Patterson
The Monster – Bobby Please
Graveyard – The Phantom Five
Caveman – Tommy Roe
Mad House Jump – The Daylighters
Jekyll and Hyde- Jim Burgett
Haunted House – Cris Kevin
The Head Hunters – Mike Fern
I’m the Wolfman – Round Robin
The Monster Hop – Bert Convy
Don’t Meet Mr. Frankenstein – Carlos Casal Jr.
I Was a Teenage Monster – The Keytones
You Can Get Him, Frankenstein – The Castle Kings
The Gila Monster – Joe Johnson
Frankenstein Rock – Eddie Thomas
I Was a Teen-Age Caveman – Randy Luck
Frankie Frankenstein - Ivan
Haunted House - Johnny Fuller
INSTRUMENTALS
Great Pumpkin Waltz - Vince Guaraldi
Linus and Lucy – Vince Guaraldi
Hall of the Mountain Grill – Hawkwind
Brian Eno – In Dark Trees
Out of Limits – The Marketts
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group
In Fall - The Dirty Three
Pumpkin Head Escapes - The Fall
The Knight, the Devil, and Death - The Fall
Black Monk Theme - The Fall
Banshee Beach – The Ghastly Ones
Swinging on Pier 13 - The Bomboras
Buffy the Vampie Slayer – Nerf Herder
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Theme) – The Civil Tones (ethereal, liquid, surf instrumental version of the TV theme)
Hollywood Nocturne – The Ghastly Ones
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo – Bela Fleck
Phantasm – Captain Zorro
Tubular Bells - The Book of Love
Tubular Bells 1 & 2 – Mike Oldfield
Wicked Witch of the East - Scarlet Rivera
Quatermass - Kill Van Helsing (Rockin’ surf version of the Quatermass movie theme)
Half Light - Low with Tomandandy
Halloween Americana - Everclear
Theme from Kolchak - The Night Stalker
Red Asphalt - Pollo Del Mar
Hollywood Nocturne - The Ghastly Ones
The Ballade of the Headless Horseman - The Route 66 Killers
Playa De Los Muertos - The Bomboras
The Munsters Theme - Los Straitjackets
The Simpsons Halloween Special Theme
Spookhouse - Voldar
Guitar Noire - Aqua Velvets
A Fistful of Terror – The Bomboras
Werewolves on Wheels – Born Losers
CLASSICAL
(A good CD for a lot of these is FRIGHT NIGHT: MUSIC THAT GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT. Mannheim Steamroller also has juiced-up versions of these and original music and sound effects on their CDs)
Danse Macabre - Saint-Saens
In the Hall of the Mountain King – Grieg
Funeral March of a Marionette – Gounod (Alfred Hitchcock’s theme)
The Sorceror’s Apprentice – Dukas
Witch’s Ride from Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck
March to the Scaffold from Symphone Fantastique by Berlioz
Mars – Bringer of War from The Planets by Holst (used in “Alien”)
Mephisto Waltz - Liszt
Halloween – Charles Ives
Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor - Bach
Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky)
The Haunted Organ Suite – Verne Langdon (great Don Post mask maker was also a great organist) – from the Hallloween Spooktacular Album, which also includes Langdon backing up John Carradine’s Edgar Allen Poe readings
COUNTRY-WESTERN/ BLUEGRASS
Walking After Midnight - Patsy Cline
13 – Johnny Cash
Gary Gilmore's Eyes - The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
The Angel of Death (last song he ever recorded – also covered by Shane MacGowan)
Ghost Riders in the Sky - The Ramrods
Ghost Train - The Bad Livers
Ghost Riders in the Sky - Johnny Cash
O Death - Ralph Stanley
Ghost of the Benson Stage – Griz Green
FOLK MUSIC / WORLD BEAT
Are You Happy Now - Richard Shindell (The ultimate Halloween break-up / morning after song)
Finnegan's Wake - The Clancy Brothers
All Souls Night – Loreena McKennitt
Count Dracula – Robbie the Werewolf
Lucifer – Robbie the Werewolf
Rockin’ Werewold – Robbie the Werewolf
Streets of Transylvania – Robbie the Werewolf
Tiptoe Through the Wolfbane – Robbie the Werewolf
Vampire Man – Robbie the Werewolf
Whatever Happened to Halloween – The Vinyl Goods
Zydeco Gris-Gris – Beuasoleil
Harvest Hymn – The Wild Mountain Thyme (An apocalyptic religious harvest hymn!)
Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana) – Jimmy Buffett (I like this.)
Lost in Autumn – The Sea and Cakes
When October Goes – Megan McDonough
SPOKEN WORD
(Check out the CDs HORRORS: A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Garrison Keillor); HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR (John Carradine reading Poe with Verne Langdon on the Pipe Organ – I wanted this when I saw it in the back pages of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND as a kid, and now it’s on CD! And CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF RABIES – Edgar Allen Poe readings with gloomy rock soundtracks)
Halloween - Jerry Seinfeld
The Raven (Poe) - Read by Garrison Keillor
Ulalume (Poe) - Read by John Carradine
Funerary Verse – Garrison Keillor, et al
The Raven (Poe) - read by Christopher Walken
The Groon – written and read by Ray Bradbury
Ulalume (Poe) - Read by Jeff Buckley
The Masque of Read Death – read by Gabriel Byrne
The Tell-tale Heart (Poe) read by Iggy Pop
The Conqueror Worm (Poe) read by Ken Nordine
The Black Cat (Poe) – read by Diamanda Galas
The Haunted Palace – read by Ed Sanders
ROCK & ROLL / R&B / ROCKABILLY / DOO-*** / SOUL
(Good sources for a lot of these tracks: The Ultimate Rockin’ Halloween Party (available on iTunes); The Buffalo Bop rock-n-roll horror CDs HORROR HOP and MONSTER BOP; the essential HALLOWEEN HOOTENANNY CD; MONSTER ROCK ‘N ROLL SHOW (also has lots of radio spot promos for vintage horror movies;
Zombie Jamboree – Lord Invader and his 12 Penetrators (1956 calypso – numerous covers by Harry Belafonte and the Kingston Trio, even a version by The Charmer – which was the calypso stage name for Louis Farrakhan!)
Igor’s Party – Tony’s Monstrosities
Castin' My Spell - Johnny Otis
Slippin’ Into Darkness – War
Horror Movies – Dickie Goodman
The Birds – The Motivations
Witch Queen of New Orleans – Redbone
Frankenstein Returns, Parts 1 & 2 – Buchanan and Goodman
Dry Bones Twist – The Drivers
At the House of Frankenstein – Big Bee Kornegay
Night Mare – Billy Sills
The Zoo – Micky Lee Lane
The Mummy’s Bracelet – Lee Ross
Monster Holiday – Lon Chaney, Jr. (Also a Xmas song!)
The Monster – Evans Carroll
Teenage Creature – Lord Luther
Shudders and Screams – Ben Colder
The Mortal Monster Man – The Savoys
Black Widow Spider Woman – Jack Hammer
Mad Witch – Dave Gardner
Night Mares – John Sowell
Vampira – Bobby Bare
Voo Doo Woman – Smiley Smith
Graveyard Rock – Tarantula Goul
Werewolf – The Frantics
Wombie Zombie – Billy Taylor
Jungle Hop – Kip Taylor
Moon Madness – Pasquale and the Lunar Tiks
Creature From Outer Space – Sonny Day
Amazon – Phil Carter
Rockin’ in the Graveyard – Jackie Morningstar
Were Wolf – Carl Bonafede
Caveman Hop – Jerry Coulston
The Cat – Rod Willis
Midnight Monsters Hop – Jack and Jim
Nightmare – Scottie Stuart
Graveyeard – Leroy Bowman
The Skeleton Fight – Mack Allen Smith
The Monster Hop – Johnny Dee
Story That’s True – Carl Bonafede
The Gorilla – Bert Convy (Yes, that Bert Convy)
Leopard Man – Joe Wallace
Nightmare Hop – Earl Patterson
The Monster – Bobby Please
Graveyard – The Phantom Five
Caveman – Tommy Roe
Mad House Jump – The Daylighters
Jekyll and Hyde- Jim Burgett
Haunted House – Cris Kevin
The Head Hunters – Mike Fern
I’m the Wolfman – Round Robin
The Monster Hop – Bert Convy
Don’t Meet Mr. Frankenstein – Carlos Casal Jr.
I Was a Teenage Monster – The Keytones
You Can Get Him, Frankenstein – The Castle Kings
The Gila Monster – Joe Johnson
Frankenstein Rock – Eddie Thomas
I Was a Teen-Age Caveman – Randy Luck
Frankie Frankenstein - Ivan
Haunted House - Johnny Fuller
