Monster Mash
No, it’s not what you get when you mix Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry into one bowl. Click to listen to my dad’s version of the song originally done by Bobby “Boris” Pickett.
Curt (that’s my dad) put this together in about 2 hours with Apple’s Garage Band. He’s teaching music in Ventura, CA. Check out his blog!
Here’s some background info on the original version…
Pickett was an aspiring actor who sang with a band called The Cordials at night while going to auditions during the day. One night, while performing with his band, Pickett did a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff while performing The Diamonds’ “Little Darlin’”. The audience loved it and fellow band member, Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation.
Pickett and Capizzi composed “Monster Mash” and recorded it with Gary Paxton, Leon Russell, Johnny McCrae and Rickie Page, credited as “The Cryptkickers”. This song was partially inspired by Paxton’s earlier novelty hit “Alley Oop”, as well as by the Mashed Potato dance craze of the era.
The song is narrated by a mad scientist whose monster, late one evening, rises from a slab to perform a new dance. The dance becomes a hit when the scientist throws a party for other monsters. The producers came up with several low-budget, but effective sound effects for the recording. For example, the sound of a coffin opening was imitated by a rusty nail being pulled out of a board. The sound of a cauldron bubbling was actually water being bubbled through a straw and the chains rattling were simply chains being dropped on a tile floor. Pickett also impersonated the horror actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula when he said, “What ever happened to my Transylvania Twist?”
On October 20, 1962, eight weeks after it was recorded, “Monster Mash” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart just in time for Halloween. It has been a perennial holiday favorite ever since. The single was re-released twice, the first re-release was in 1970, and the second re-release resulted in the single peaking at #10 in early-May, 1973. The song remains a staple on oldies radio. - Wikipedia
Tags: Halloween
