Eish!

Halloween, contrary to some belief, is not a Yanky festival.

It actually has it’s origins in Celtic tradition. That’s right, it was the Irish who taught us to let our children dress up as freaks and knock on strangers’ doors asking for sweeties (I live opposite a primary school, it’s normally the other way round).

I’m tasked this year with constructing a Halloween playlist and it’s turning out to be quite an intellectual mind-bender. Here’s the shortlist so far. Starting with the obvious choices:

1. Ghost Busters – Ray Parker Jr
2. Thriller – Michael Jackson
3. Anything from the rocky Horrow Picture Show (although I only have the Timewarp)
4. Bat Out of Hell – Meatloaf
5. Devil Woman – Cliff Richard
6. Somebody’s Watching Me – Rockwell
7. Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
8. I Put a Spell on You – Screamin’Jay Hawkins
9. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
10. Bad Moon rising – CCR
11. Highway to Hell – ACDC
12. Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
13. Zombie – The Cranberries

Moving on to the less obvious choices:

1. Bones – The Killers
2. I’m Your Bogey Man – White Zombie
3. Anything from Rob Zombie actually, just choose your guests carefully
4. Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
5. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads (preferably the live version)
6. Ashes to Ashes – David Bowie
7. Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
8. Country Death Song – Violent Femmes (but you will have very depressed guests after this)
9. Sweet Dreams – Marilyn Mansun
10. Halloween – Dead Kennedies

A few very weak options:

1. Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
2. Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers (it was used for the movie “Ghost” and therefore Amelia insists on it)
3. She’s Not There – The Zombies (by virtue of their name alone)
4. Anything from the Smashing Pumpkins, by virtue of their name

While making the above list, I noticed that Amelia had inserted Scissor Sisters because she likes it, Whig Wam Bam because she knows the dance moves, Kung-Fu Fighting because she likes to kick things and Ash since they are from her native Liverpool. I think one of us was missing the point.

Drop me some more suggestions if you can think of any…