Snapshots Spillover: Even More Halloween Horror Film Songs

When I was a kid, I vividly remember the thrill of watching the old Universal horror movies late Saturday night on BBC2. You'd never see these classics on TV these days, and they're in danger of being airbrushed out of history for anyone other than ardent cinephiles... but we remember them today, starting with Victor (or Henry, as he was known in James Whales' film) Frankenstein and his monster, played by Boris Karloff...

The Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein

That was the obvious tune, although curiously it only made it to Number 5 in My Top Ten Frankenstein Songs back in 2015...

Before you knew it, the Monster demanded a mate... in the form of Elsa Lanchester.

I couldn't immediately think of a song named after The Bride, but then I discovered New Zealand's Toy Love, who were on Flying Nun, so they had to be worth a listen. Here they are in 1980...

Toy Love - Bride of Frankenstein 

Todd Browning's Dracula was the first of many Universal films featuring the Lord of the Undead (and his family), although it's the only one to feature Bela Lugosi in the title role (unless you count his guest appearance in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). Despite that, Lugosi is the actor most often associated with the Count, even long after his death...

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Dracula can be found in quite a few songs in my hard drive, but only one is named solely after him, from this Aberdonian indie band...

The Little Kicks - Dracula

The direct sequel to Lugosi's Dracula featured Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska, aka Dracula's Daughter. Which leads us nicely to Colin Meloy and co....

The Decemberists - Dracula's Daughter

Soon after that, Boris Karloff returned, not with bolts through his neck this time, but wrapped in bandages...

Benji Hughes - The Mummy

More bandages were wrapped around Claude Rains in 1933... although when he took them off, he disappeared completely. There's loads of Invisible Man songs to choose from (see here), but this was the obvious choice, still one of Declan's finest album tracks...

Elvis Costello - The Invisible Man

And now for a few more Universal Monster movies turned into songs...

The Frantic Elevators - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

(featuring the immortal line, "I'm an ugly sod, but it's not my fault")

The Who - Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Dave Edmunds - The Creature From The Black Lagoon

Sarah Brightman & Steve Harley - The Phantom Of The Opera

(Yes, I went there.)

Round Robin - I'm The Wolfman

Ah yes, The Wolfman. I used to be a Wolfman, but I'm alright nooooooooooooooooowwwwww. Etc. 

But did you know that the first Werewolf-based horror movie to be produced by Universal was not 1941's The Wolfman? 

Oh no. 

Six years prior to that, they released this beauty, starring Henry Hull as the... erm... hairy handed gent who ran amok in Kent...

How else could we close this post?

Listening Post #11: Trouble Waiting To Happen

Today feels like a Warren Zevon kind of day.

Still, it's the end of an 8 week term, so at least I don't have to get up quite as early as normal next week.

I woke up this morning, and I fell out of bed

Trouble waiting to happen

Should've quit while I was ahead

Trouble waiting to happen

I turned on the news to the Third World War

Opened up the paper to World War Four

Just when I thought it was safe to be bored

Trouble waiting to happen

This one was co-written by the late JD Souther, who passed a few weeks back.

Snapshots #355: A Top Twelve Songs About Poets

Above, you'll see the poet Philip Larkin, larking about with his camera.

Below, you'll find 12 songs that mention poets in the title...

12. Used to deliver the Lizard King.

Jim Morrison in a van.

Van Morrison – Rave On, John Donne

11. Part of the hospital reserved for Morrissey, Madonna and Moby.

That'll be the M Ward.

M. Ward - Blake's View

10. Humble, yet Mighty.

Modest Mouse - Bukowski

9. Ladies of the expanding bullet.

Dum Dum Girls - Rimbaud's Eyes

8. Rabbit home found ablaze, Von Trapp connected.

Rabbits live in a warren, near  ablaze Von Trapp

Warren Zevon - Lord Byron's Luggage

7. Local gathering place for people who want superior unconsciousness.

Better Oblivion Community Centre - Dylan Thomas

6. Murder on the feet.

Slaughter & The Dogs - Edgar Allan Poe

5. Old theatre meets Byrds' Mare.

Old Vic + Chestnut Mare...

Vic Chesnutt - Stevie Smith 

4. Boastful, but still a good place to buy your testament. 

Buy your wills from Wilco!

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Walt Whitman's Niece

3. What Zod said to a guy who Should Have Known Better.

"Kneel, Jim Diamond!"

Neil Diamond - Longfellow Serenade

2. There were no bees in the summer of '69.

It's not Bryan Adams, is it?

Ryan Adams - Sylvia Plath

1. ...and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

"Goodnight, sweet Prince..."

Prince - Ballad of Dorothy Parker

More Odes to Obscurity next Saturday...

Self-Help For Cynics #29: Absence Anxiety

Fountains Of Wayne - Sick Day

In the week before Easter, I was off work for three days with a bad cold. I'd been fighting through the cold over a week by the time I finally gave in and called in sick, but I just didn't seem able to shake it and I was feeling worse, rather than better, every day. 

Billy Nomates - Call In Sick

I still felt guilty calling in sick though. I don't like being absent from work, especially with a bloody cold! I've never thrown a sickie in my life... I just can't handle the stress. Everyone seemed fine about my absence, but that didn't stop my paranoia taking hold. The nice lady I called from HR said she hoped I'd be better for the Easter holiday, and even though I knew she wasn't having a dig... part of me wondered if she was. 

Emily Breeze - Call In Sick Today

It doesn't help that in my previous job at The Bad Place, we were put under pressure not to ever be ill, since there was never any staff free to cover our classes and management hated paying for agency cover. I recall one year I was off sick on my birthday, and my boss made a point of sending me a Happy Birthday! text. I was convinced it contained an inference that I was only taking the day off to celebrate... and how the hell did she even know it was my birthday? I never told her! As a course leader, I was also put under pressure to call or message anyone who was absent on my team and ask them when they thought they'd be back. Will you be in tomorrow? I refused to do it, because I felt it crossed a line, but I know other people who followed that practice.

The Soft Close-Ups - Some Sick Day

I also knew that if I was off sick, it would put extra pressure on the other teachers in my team who were already over-worked and up against it. Many of my colleagues felt the same... and the ones who didn't, I was almost conditioned to believe they were swinging the lead. I guess in that, I was just as guilty of perpetuating the guilt cycle as my employers were. This was the culture that was bred into us in The Bad Place. 

The Wallflowers - If You Never Got Sick

My current employers are much more understanding when it comes to sick leave, and because I know my colleagues are less over-worked, I don't feel like I'm imposing on them too much if I take time off. And yet... I still feel the guilt.

Warren Zevon - Don't Let Us Get Sick

A report on patient.info asks "Why do we feel anxious about calling in sick when we are genuinely unwell?" Human behaviour expert Claire Brummell suggests...

The feeling of guilt we experience in these situations is because we are conditioned as a society to view doing anything to prioritise our own well-being as selfish.

This means that, even when we are physically in need of prioritising ourselves and our healing because we are genuinely ill, we still respond in a way that suggests we are doing something wrong.

Not only is it not selfish to call in sick, it is Selfirst - the practice of meeting your own needs as a priority, in ways that do not do harm to others, and sometimes can benefit them. It is actually taking care of the needs of others as well.

Jake Thackray - I Stayed off Work Today

I get all that, and it's good to hear that I'm not the only one who has these feelings. But I'm not sure it's enough to stop me feeling them. Maybe after a few more years in this more supportive work environment, some of the mental scars from The Bad Place will start to fade. Until then, I just need to remember Chip Taylor's rather extreme solution...

Snapshots #316: A Top Ten Werewolf Songs

I always like to indulge in a Halloween themed top ten at this time of year... and this time, it has really big teeth! (Bob Seger gave you an extra clue yesterday, with his Silver Bullet Band.)

I used to be a werewolf, you know. But I'm alright no-ooooooooooow!

I'm here all week.

10. Found in the basic ramp structure.

Found in the basiC ramp structure.

The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf

9. The main point of this quiz.

All you have to do is Guess Who...

The Guess Who - Clap For The Wolfman

8. Holy circles, cylinders and spheres, Batman!

They're all round, Robin.

Round Robin - I'm The Wolfman

7. Gremlins.

If you've seen Gremlins, you know. If you haven't... do yourself a favour. It's got Hoyt Axton in!

Mogwai - How To Be A Werewolf

6. Fine girl from Cumbria.

Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) from Carlisle...

Brandi Carlile - Mama Werewolf

5. Sparks fly over this male quintet.

Five Man Electrical Band - Werewolf

4. Thankfully Ripoll. 

Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic. Ripoll is her rarely used surnamed.

Shakira - She Wolf

Shakira - She Wolf

3. Sounds like an Australian to me.

He's not an Aussie, but he is...

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon

Video of the week.

2. In today's race, Xanadu ran and Gorgonzola Fondu ran, but all the other horses fell at the first hurdle. 

In today's race, Xanadu ran and Gorgonzola Fondu ran,

Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf

Simon Le Bon almost turns into a werewolf in that. Ozzy still has the better video.

1. Zen raver now confused.

Anagram.

There was no other choice for Number One.

Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London

More Halloween based shenanigans in this week's Namesakes. 

Snapshots should be less scary next Saturday...

Celebrity Jukebox #94: Glenda, Treat & Cormac

The Grim Reaper has been so busy lately, I'm having to do triple time.

GLENDA JACKSON

Women In Love. A Touch of Class. The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show. Was there anything Glenda Jackson couldn't do? And that was before she became a Labour MP in the Blair government... though she went on to be openly critical of her boss, the war-mongering liar, so that's OK too. 

Let's forgive Glenda for the film that gave its title to a song by The Irish Band and listen instead to Scouse band Noctorum...

I'm gonna ring you up

And have you come on down

And lie here next to me

We're not gonna need the satellite

'Cause we've got ITV

If you press eject

Then we can both reflect

On what the best scenes did for you

We'll be Glenda Jackson and Olivеr Reed

In this epic bedsit room

Noctorum - Tora Tora Tora

And here's one of my heroes, the great Warren Zevon, with an early draft of his biggest hit...

I saw Oliver Reed walking with Glenda Jackson

They were doing nothing, ha!

I did find a couple of tracks that mentioned Glenda in the title, by bands called Hooker and Fish From Tahiti. Sadly, I couldn't find them online. So I'm left with this...

The Gashounds - Song For Glenda Jackson

Treat Williams

Treat Williams came to fame playing Danny Zuko in the 1972 Broadway production of Grease, but I guess he was too old for the role by the time they got around to casting the movie. Having said that, Travolta was only three years younger, so who knows. Williams enjoyed a pretty respectable career in the movies, across all genres, though I pretty much think of him as a B-movie guy from shlocky fluff like The Phantom and Deep Rising. That is, the kind of movies my brain prefers.

Here’s Swedish rapper Niello…

Och dansa, dansa psycho
Som Treat Williams på ditt middagsbord

Which translates thus…

And dance, dance psycho
Like Treat Williams on your dinner table

Niello - Legenden feat Phantomen

The ultimate tribute to Treat comes from John Grant…

He could call me up
If he wants to chat
You know I waited so long
Now I'm up to bat
He's no Treat Williams, but neither am I
It might be wishful thinkin', but you got to try

CORMAC McCARTHY

There is an American folk singer called Cormac McCarthy, but he's not the one who left us this month. Still, because he's worth a listen...

Cormac McCarthy - Madness In The Family (But, I'm Just Nervous, That's All)

I've only read one book by the other Cormac McCarthy, but it was a doozy. That said, I'm not sure I would rush to read The Road again, because as engaging as it was, it was also pretty grim. Here's a song inspired by that Pulitzer Prize-winning novel...

Dustin Kensrue - Carry The Fire

And here's a song that wasn't, but, y'know, any excuse...

Frank Turner - The Road

Now for some Math(s) rock. Which sounds to me like when you're listening to one track on your computer but another track is still playing in the background and you don't realise.

I'm thinking about Cormac McCarthy

And why I can never remember his name

Or how he was supposed to change my life 

90 Day Men - Dialed In

And that's why English is better than Math(s), kids. 

Here's Randy Chabot, aka Deastro...

Cormac McCarthy waves a flag of flapping skin

To hide his darkest fears and find a way back home

Deastro - Vermillion Plaza

And finally... I feel like I've come across The Burning Hell before, yet a quick trawl through the search box reveals no past blog references. Regardless, this is my favourite song of the day, and possibly the week.

The band was as blue as the melted Joni Mitchell cassette

On the dash of the van they had nicknamed regret

Touring round the United Kingdom

Selling compact discs to the people of England

And Wales and Scotland, 

Oh it’s hard to be a rock band these days

People like to spend their evenings in different ways

The road is a lot like the Cormac McCarthy book

Less cannibalism but a similar look

There’s nothing more post-apocalyptic

Than a landscape of truck stops and rock critics

To paraphrase Joni on the first track of that melted cassette

It’s a lonely road and it’s not over yet

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #85: To Be Frank

I lay my head on the railroad tracks

And wait for the double E

The railroad don't run no more

Poor poor pitiful me

Warren Zevon always has the answer.

It's been a bit of a miserable week on this blog, and I'm not going to harp on about that any more, other than to thank you all for your kind and supportive comments. They're more appreciated than I can say without sounding insincere.

Thanks also to Frank Turner, who appears to understand this weltschmerz very well...

I got a brand new name for an old, old friend

The doctor said it's anxiety

And it makes a lot of sense 'cause I've been so tense

Some days, I find it difficult to see

'Cause I've been hemmed in, penned down, struggling to find myself

Caved in, cut down, scared of everybody else

Dragged in, dragged down, searching for a reason to live

Don't you ever wake up and suspect

That you were simply never cut out to be

The kind of person they expect

The person you intended to be?

And I keep it all in with my idiot grin

And I'm doing my best but there's very little left

So cut me some slack if I crawl back into my shell

I haven't been doing so well

Couldn't you tell?

And if self-loathing was a sport, I'd be Muhammad Ali

'Cause I can sting like a butterfly and sink like a bee

But they don't hand out medals to monsters like me

Oh well

I haven't been doing so well

Howard

God damn.

Snapshots #210: A Top Ten Courtroom Songs

Who's afraid of Saturday Snapshots? Not you guys, jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof, solving even the trickiest clues.

Here's a round-up of this week's answers...

10. Scouse pounds.

Mersey... beats!

The Merseybeats - I Stand Accused

(Yes, I was more familiar with the Elvis Costello version, but he features here often enough.)

9. Fruity Hindu god.

Rama is a Hindu god. (An avatar of Vishnu, to be precise.)

Bananarama - Love In The First Degree

8. They sang songs for the lost and the lonely.

Pearl's a singer. She sings songs for the lost and the lonely.

The Pearls - Guilty

7. A Jock's newborn.

Anagram!

Jackson Browne - Lawyers In Love

6. London, Paris, Washington D.C.

Capital Cities - Kangaroo Court

5. Cowboy kid and Ethan's brother.

Billy the Kid and Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers makes former boxer...

Billy Joel - An Innocent Man

4. Measuring oxymoron.

Shorty Long - Here Comes The Judge

3. Cooke meets Godfather.

Sam Cooke meets James Brown... by way of Marvin Gaye.

Sam Brown - Can I Get A Witness?

2. Red furry dice me!

Anagram!

Freddie Mercury - In My Defence

1. Top of the charts, in (cod) German.

Zee v...one!

Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns & Money

More Snapshots, Taylor-made for you, next Saturday.

Snapshots #190: A Top Ten Sick Songs

Perhaps not the nicest subject matter I've ever used to connect songs, but not a bad set of tunes.

When I think of sick, I think of our cats puking up furballs... any excuse for a cat camera pic!

Answers... sorry if they get a bit heavy this week!

10. Count Ferdinand was a heavy metal pioneer.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, that would be.

Led Zeppelin - Sick Again

9. Welsh bays.

Cardigan Bay.

The Cardigans - Sick And Tired

8. The last ding dong. 

Ding Dong, Avon calling. The last time they call would presumably be Z-von.

Warren Zevon - Don't Let Us Get Sick

7. Found in a dirty, wet hive.

Mudhoney - Touch Me, I'm Sick

6. Montgomery, Huntsville, Mobile.

Three towns in Alabama.

The Alabama 3 - Too Sick To Pray

5. Thank Robbie for teeing off.

Take the T off thank and you get Hank, with Robbie Williams...

Hank Williams - Lovesick Blues

4. Bothered?

Disturbed - Down With The Sickness

If that's too loud for you, may I suggest this version instead...?

Richard Cheese - Down With The Sickness

3. Bee, birds, gopher.

It's an anagram!

Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

2. Disc knitters.

And another one!

Tindersticks - City Sickness

1. Guitar playing rabbit floats up and down.

Cue the first ever lyric video...

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, but it'll blow more Snapshots your way next Saturday...