Halloween Hits: "The Ghost Of Tom Joad"

"The Ghost Of Tom Joad" Bruce Springsteen (1996)

"The Ghost Of Tom Joad" Rage Against The Machine (1997)

Halloween Hits: Georgie - Scholastic Records 1968

                                       

And the B-Side:  Mother Ghost Nursery Rhymes and Other Tricks and Treats

I think everyone who ever went to a suburban public elementary school in the '70s still remembers the Scholastic Book Club flyers and the books, magazines and records they offered within

Dynamite magazine anyone?

Scholastic Records was a sort of like Disneyland Records, if Disneyland were heavier into story books for their literary value than the commercial exploitation of them.

The Georgie record were based on a series of books written by Robert Bright, an author of children's books and it's pretty safe to say Georgie (written in 1944) was inspired by Casper The Friendly Ghost (first featured in 1939.) You could not hear this record and not make some immediate connection with Casper. Both are friendly ghosts, both are lonesome. Both have human relation problems.

The series continued with Georgie and The Robbers and Georgie and The Noisy Ghost.
 
Georgie was narrated by voice actor Bob McFadden, best known for his commercial work - he was the voice of Frankenberry in the Count Chocula cereal commercials.

Bob McFadden also had a Halloween hit in 1958, "The Mummy" for Brunswick Records.

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Halloween Hits: "Dark Lady" Cher (1974)

Halloween Hits: "Fire" The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown (1968)

When I was a little kid, this song's opening used to scare the crap out of me.

Long before Insane Clown Posse, before Marilyn Manson, before King Diamond, before Twisted Sister, before Motley Crue.

Before Kiss, before David Bowie and even before Alice Cooper, there was Arthur Brown in 1968. He originated the kabuki makeup look in rock n' roll - LONG before everyone else.

Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J....Meet your GRANDDADDY!

With the scary makeup and declaration at the beginning of this song, as corny as this song is, it still got banned off many radio stations in the Bible Belt.

Arthur Brown also has the distinction of being the first rock artist to explore fear as a main topic of his albums, also LONG before all the other kabuki-coated imitators that followed him.....

Halloween Hits: "Mr. Sandman" The Chordettes (1954)

Another nifty little gem from Cadence Records, this song was heavily featured in the original Halloween movie series in the '70s and '80s......