Martha and Me (very wordy)

13 years ago

Today Martha Stewart emailed me (me and 40 zillion others). Her tip was entitled: Halloween Party Playlist.

She said, "The most memorable Halloween parties start with a great soundtrack. Blah, blah, blah." Then she listed some songs to download from iTunes.

WELL, turns out I already have one.

You see, there is a chain of restaurants around here (maybe they're national, I don't know) called The Macaroni Grill. When you use the restaurant's restroom, you discover that they have Italian Language Lessons piped in. You know, the kind that say, "Which way to the bus station?" or "Check please" in Italian and you're supposed to repeat it back. It makes everyone in the restroom smile.

Shortly after I visited the Macaroni Grill's restroom for the first time, we hosted our annual St. Patrick's Day party. I set up a system in the guest bathroom that played Gaelic Lessons (out from the cabinet under the sink). Everyone got a big kick out of it.

That prompted me to ALWAYS try and come up with some sort of surprise recording in the bathroom every time we have a large number of guests over.

For Halloween this year, I am not having the usual Halloween songs or sound effects. This year we are playing "Songs that Have Halloween Titles, But Have Nothing to Do With Halloween"

I have the song titles and performers posted next to the soap.

Here's the list. How many first lines can you sing?

Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered, Rosemary Clooney

Blackbird, The Beatles

In the Midnight Hour, Wilson Pickett

Wild Thing, The Troggs

Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf

Witch Doctor, Sha Na Na

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Liberace

Bloody Mary, Seabees

Dead Man's Curve, Jan and Dean

I Put A Spell On You, Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Black Magic Woman, Santana

Running Scared, Roy Orbison

Dem Bones, The Persuasions

Magic Moments, Perry Como

Shackles and Chairs, Patty Loveless

I Fall to Pieces, Patsy Cline

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes, Gene Pitney

The Hanging Tree, Marty Robbins

Hurt So Bad, Little Anthony and the Imperials

Stormy Weather, Lena Horne

Ghost Riders in the Sky, Johnny Cash

Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin

Love Potion No.9, The Searchers

I've Got You Under My Skin, Frankie Valli

That Old Black Magic, Frank Sinatra

Walk on the Wild Side, Elmer Bernstein

Witchy Woman, Eagles

This Magic Moment, The Drifters

Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater

Chains, The Cookies

Spooky, The Classics iV

Itsy Bitsy Spider, Carly Simon

Devil or Angel, Bobby Vee

Shake, Rattle and Roll, Bill Haley and His Comments

Funeral March, Beethoven

The Purple People Eater, Sheb Wooley

Here is a link that might be useful: Martha's page

Comments (17)

party_music50
13 years ago
I don't recognize about half of your list of songs, but there are some good tunes there that I do recognize. From your description, all I could think of is 'Werewolves of London' by Warren Zevon and I'll be thinking about it all night now! lol!
Purplemoon
13 years ago
boy am I feeling old now, LOL. But some of those songs sure bring back the memories!
I loved Purple People Eater before I ever knew I loved purple. LOL.

hugs, Karen
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oldalgebra
Original Author
13 years ago
Yep! If you recognize most of these, you're - well, you're not as young as you used to be! :-)
nana2010_gw
13 years ago
I won't admit how many of the first lines I can sing!!!
NanaK
phonegirl
13 years ago
This sounds great and what a fun thing to do. I know way to many of these songs. I have Witchy Woman as a ringtone downloaded on one of my phones.

Punk
jeannespines
13 years ago
Too funny, OA! (& yup I recognized many of 'em!) Very cool idea! Your party will be such a "hit!" Ok, now all morning I'll be singing:

"Ooh-ee-ooh-ah-ah, ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang" LOL! TFS! Jeanne S.
lynninnewmexico
13 years ago
You have the most original ideas, Lady! And, yes, I can sing almost all of their first lines
"Wild thing! You make my heart sing! You make evvvvv-ry-thing . . . grooooovy!"
Although I don't think Beethoven's Funeral March has a first line ;^D

My fav from your (awesome) list has to be "Ghost Riders in the Sky". Love it!
plainjane425
13 years ago
You can count me in to the 'Geezer Club of Songs' !
I know way too many of them...geesh..
Lots of great ones there.
You probably will find some people 'lingering' in the bathroom a little longer than they should! lol

jane
jaybird
13 years ago
Hey, I can sing the first line of the Beethoven...it just doesn't happen to have any words :^)
You should have the death march from Aida in there too...just to make people wonder what in the heck it is....
okay, I'm goin' back under my classical rock now....
and yes, I recognized WAYYYY too many of those songs......
luvstocraft
13 years ago
What a fun idea! I agree with Jane, some may linger in there longer! You all know I recognise the majority of these songs too! LOL Hope you have a great time! Luvs
oldalgebra
Original Author
13 years ago
Glad you gals got a kick out of it.

Lynne, I was surprised to learn that you like Ghost Riders. I'm from a little town in northern California, so Johnny Cash (before he crossed over), Marty Robbins and Patsy Cline were hometown favorites "back in the day." Of course, they eventually lost radio playing time to the likes of the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones, but they still bring back small town memories for me. Can't deny my roots.

I guess Slaughter on Tenth Avenue would be pretty hard to sing as well, but can you hum a few bars? I can't either, You'd recognize it if you heard it though.

Jane, you're right about people lingering in the bathroom. One year I played a long list of spooky sounds. Another time I played the audio book of A Tell-Tale Heart, read by Basil Rathbone. But the one that really made people "hang around" was a composite from several children's CDs that had little kids telling Halloween jokes. (What kind of mistakes do ghosts make? I don't know. Boo-boos! Then you'd hear lots of kids squeeling with laughter.)

Now, who among us DOESN'T know who Liberace is?? A pox on all of you youngsters!
elmaly
13 years ago
I want to add to the list but all I could come up with was songs from the 80's...such as All you Zombies by The Hoooters. But, YES, I do know who Liberace is. (The Cookies? Not so much! hehe)

Anyway, I love the list and love the idea!!
kathleen_li
13 years ago
I got that email too!
I am sure your guests enjoyed your version!
I know most of them you listed!

I didn't know if it was day or night
I started kissin' everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine

That's a good one!
christmascandy
13 years ago
Yes, I know most of the songs!
I have a doormat that when the kiddos step on it for trick or treat, it says "Happy Halloween, ha ha ha ha ha, and repeats it" in a very s p o o k y voice!!
I also have a Santa head that I hang in my bathroom at Christmas. He is motion activated and when visitors shut the door, he talks and startles people who haven't seen him before!

I also have a cassette tape, I know "Old School", of spooky sounds I can play for Halloween.

How come Cinderella was such a poor runner?
She had a pumpkin for a coach!! LOL
How do you fix a broken Jack O'Lantern?
Use a pumpkin patch!! LOL again.

I have tons of kid jokes as I told a joke every day in class, and if I forgot the students would remind me! So I have jokes for every holiday and tons of others as well.

TTFN,
Candy
plainjane425
13 years ago
OA...loved reading about the people lingering to hear the various tapes...I know I would ! lol
It's got to be fun to be invited to your parties...you think of every detail and I bet your guests get excited (like kids)..thinking of what 'new' idea you've come up with.
Have fun...

jane
luvstocraft
13 years ago
Candy, loved the jokes--wrote them down to tell little GD!

OA, the kids laughing on that tape would have me lingering to listen for sure. I love little kids voices. ;o)

Luvs
oldalgebra
Original Author
13 years ago
Candy, I hadn't heard those two jokes before. They're not part of my Halloween kid recording. I wish I knew a way to record my own grandchildren. I'd add them to the mix. Hmmmm. Might have to look into that. If anyone out there has information on that, let me know.

Luvs, I'm with you when it comes to kid voices. They're adorable.

Martha and Me (very wordy)

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Martha and Me (very wordy)

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