Just in time for your Halloween weekend, we have put together two Spotify playlists to send a tingle down your spine to go with the chill in the air.
Haunted Tunes and Ballads
From the truly creepy, to the kitschy, to the otherworldly, our staff picked out songs filled with those who left this world too soon, the ones they left behind, and even those caught somewhere in-between. Some of the figures, whether real or fictitious, are truly doomed, others might yet find redemption.
Several of these songs are murder ballads. The Kingston Trio’s 1958 recording of “Tom Dooley” became a massive hit, while the uptempo cadence of the Stanley Brothers’ “Little Glass of Wine” only enhances the song’s morbid nature.
Lost souls come in many forms, however, and some hauntings are more personal, be it the missing friends and characters of Lou Reed’s “Halloween Parade” or the lost, lamented lover of Kristin Hersh’s “Your Ghost.”
Halloween Party Jams
On the flip side, Halloween is not all doom and gloom and even ghosts and goblins gotta get their party on. Whether you favor novelty songs of the 1950s and 60s like “Purple People Eater” or “The Monster Mash,” or 1980s goth classics like “Everyday is Halloween” or “Peek-a-Boo,” we’ve got you covered.
A few notes on the playlists
While we have the playlists and links embedded on this post, if you are accessing the playlists via an app on your mobile device, just search for our profile on your app, as one word: swallowhillmusic.
We have listened to all of these songs to make them as family-friendly as possible, but please be advised that the subject matter might not be suitable for all listeners.
Finally, in case you are not able to access Spotify, here are the contents of the playlists:
Haunted Tunes and Ballads for Halloween
Denver’s Riverside Cemetery, where the past and present mingle.
Hellhound on my Trail – Robert Johnson
Shady Lane – Slim Cessna’s Auto Club
Henry Lee – Locust Honey
Dire Wolf – The Grateful Dead
Tom Dooley – Kingston Trio
Caleb Meyer – Gillian Welch
Long Black Veil – The Chieftains with Mick Jagger
Rusty Road – The Widow’s Bane
Last Kind Words Blues – Geeshie Wiley
Little Glass of Wine – The Stanley Brothers
Oh Death – Dock Boggs
Satan is Real – Louvin Brothers
Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
Down Bound Train – Chuck Berry
Teen Angel – Mark Dinning
Johnny Remember Me – John Leyton
Brown Mountain Light – Country Gentleman
Dry Bones – Bascom Lamar Lunsford
In The Hole – Tom Waits
Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (In the Pines) – Nirvana
Your Ghost – Kristin Hersh
Halloween Parade – Lou Reed
St James Infirmary – Louis Armstrong
Annabelle Lee – Sara Jarosz
House Carpenter – Handsome Family
Oh The Wind and The Rain – The Petty Bones
Louis Collins – Mississippi John Hurt
Young Emily – Dellie Norton
Fine Sally – Cass Wallin
Pale Horse Pale Rider – Catherine Irwin
Gollum’s Song – Emiliana Torrini
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean – Blind Lemon Jefferson
Halloween Party Jams
Highway to Hell – AC/DC
Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
Human Fly – The Cramps
Teenage Lobotomy – The Ramones
Die Monster Die – The Misfits
I Walked With a Zombie – Rocky Erickson
Monster Mash – Bobby “Boris” Pickett
Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
People are Strange – The Doors
Black – Okkervil River
Summer Cannibals – Patti Smith
The Mummy – The Slackers
Midnight Picture Show – Teen Idols
(She’s My) Vampire Girl – Groovie Ghoulies
Martian Hop – The Ran Dells
Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
Peek-a-Boo – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Love Song – The Cure
I Miss You – Blink 182
Everyday is Halloween – Ministry
Do the Hippogriff – From Harry Potter
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Hell – Squirrel Nut Zippers
This is Halloween – By Danny Elfman (From The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
Spooky – Dusty Springfield
I Put a Spell on You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Happy Halloween from Swallow Hill Music!