A piece in each mailbox all over the planet
So, there are only so many themes one can have for a Halloween mix. I've already done "just generally creepy" and "dead people talking"--next year, I may have to really get creative or just reuse "creepy." "Creepy"'s not hard. But I actually did come up with a theme this year. Before Polly crashed, I used to have a playlist called "Oddly cheerful songs about killing people." I can't remember all the songs that were on that list, so this mix kind of lost the "oddly cheerful" aspect and instead is just songs about killing people. Morbid, I know, but it is Halloween.
1. Sheila Kay Adams--Young Hunting/Elzig's Farewell
Lay there, lay there, my own false love
Till the flesh rots off'n your bones
And the little ol' wife in the Old Scotland
Shall mourn for your return
You've got to love those Appalachian folk songs. It's all murder and adultery and people willing themselves to die for love. Good stuff. At least no one sells themselves to the Devil in this one.
2. The Mountain Goats--Cut Off Their Thumbs
How has it come to this? Well I haven't got a clue.
You looking up at me and us two lowering down at you.
Wind shakes the palm trees with an escalating fury.
Face the judge or take your chances with the jury.
I'm gonna kill everybody in this room.
So, I will tell you my story about seeing this song live. John Darnielle introduced it by saying, essentially, "I'm a little dubious about playing this song for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm not sure if I can remember the lyrics. Also, it tends to make my neighbors nervous." When he got to the chorus, we figured out why it makes his neighbors nervous. And oh, how we laughed. That was a good night, except for the part where my ceiling started leaking.
3. Heather Alexander--March of Cambreadth
Use your shield and use your head,
Fight 'till every one is dead
Raise the flag up to the sky,
How many of them can we make die?
I have a playlist called "Epic Battle" on my iPod, for those days when everything feels like a colossal struggle. Granted, washing my dishes is not really on par with hacking people apart medieval battle style, but whatever motivates me to get those dishes clean is epic enough for me.
4. The Smiths--Sweet and Tender Hooligan
Poor woman, strangled in her very own bed as she read
But that's okay
Because she was old and she would have died anyway
Don't blame the sweet and tender hooligan, hooligan
Because he'll never, never, never, never, never, never do it again
(not until the next time)
You know what this song has always reminded me of? This article from The Onion.
5. Sting-- Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)
I look forward to a better day
But ethical stuff never got in my way
And though there used to be brothers seven
The other six are singing in heaven
So, you might think, from the title and the lyrics excerpt, that this is a song about a guy who kills his six brothers for the woman he loves. But, in fact, it seems to me to be about a guy who kills his six brothers for any woman at all. Dude really, really wants a wife.
6. The Decemberists--Culling of the Fold
You can take him in a stitch
Dump his body in a ditch
Leave his limbs all naked
That'll teach him how to take it
Unlike Sting, who will couch his murders in subtlety, the Decemberists will come right on out there and advocate murder with no hedging. "Go on," they say, "kill people! It's really the right thing to do in the long run!" Oh, Decemberists. I never listened to all this creepy music before I started listening to you. You're like the gateway drug to music I feel uncomfortable listening to with my parents.
7. Otep--Run for Cover
Ripped at the seams
I destroy galaxies
Word becomes flesh
I bring nations to its knees
Yeah, I don't know if Otep's really killing people in this song so much as she's annihilating the universe or something, but the general theme of destruction seemed to be there.
8. Andrew W.K.--Ready to Die
We shoot without a gun,
We'll take on anyone,
It's really nothing new,
It's just a thing we like to do.
I don't know what the hell Andrew W.K. and his buddies get up to, but it seems to involve killing. I almost picture "The Most Dangerous Game" or something.
9. Green Day--Ha Ha, You're Dead
Ha ha you're dead
The joke is over
You were an asshole
And now you're gone
As your ship is going down
I'll stand by and watch you drown
This is the song that goes through my head any time a public figure I really don't like dies. It's horrible, and one tries not to be happy at the death of any of one's fellow human beings. But ever since I heard this song, it just kind of pops up without warning. Oh, well.
10. Kyla La Grange--Vampire Smile
But it's beautiful and I'm gonna get
so drunk on you and kill your friends.
You'll need me and we can be obsessed.
And I can touch your hair and taste your skin,
the ghosts won't matter 'cause we'll hide in sin.
Yeah, mostly this song appears to be about the creepy-ass relationship Kyla La Grange imagines with the "you" rather than actually killing people, but the way she sings this bit--like, hell yeah, I'll kill your friends, all gung-ho--makes me put this song in the Halloween-appropriate category.
11. Get Set Go--Die Motherfucker Die
Die, motherfucker die,
I'll burn out both your eyes,
And fill the sockets full of lye
I'll carve out your skull,
And I'll turn it to a bowl
That I'll eat my cereal with
as I watch the Flintstones
The thing I really love about this song is the contrast between the cheery music and the lyrics, which, as you can see...are not super cheery. Although the skull cereal bowl makes for a kind of amusing mental image.
12. Poe--Angry Johnny
I can do it with instruments
I can do it with my own bare hands
But either way
Either way, you know where it stands
I want to kill you
I want to blow you away
The tone of this song, conversely, is kind of sensual. You almost feel like Poe could pull a Judith on Johnny here, luring him in with her charms, and then stabbing him or something. That said, given that the lyrics basically consist of her fantasizing about ways to kill him, I don't know how charmed Johnny would be.
13. Ballboy--Meet Me at the Shooting Range
But if I, if I was going to kill you
I wouldn't tell you
I wouldn't tell you
But I, I'm not going to kill you
But I realize
That that's what I would say
So, uh, call me crazy, but I personally would not meet Ballboy at the shooting range.
You can download the whole mix here.
1. Sheila Kay Adams--Young Hunting/Elzig's Farewell
Lay there, lay there, my own false love
Till the flesh rots off'n your bones
And the little ol' wife in the Old Scotland
Shall mourn for your return
You've got to love those Appalachian folk songs. It's all murder and adultery and people willing themselves to die for love. Good stuff. At least no one sells themselves to the Devil in this one.
2. The Mountain Goats--Cut Off Their Thumbs
How has it come to this? Well I haven't got a clue.
You looking up at me and us two lowering down at you.
Wind shakes the palm trees with an escalating fury.
Face the judge or take your chances with the jury.
I'm gonna kill everybody in this room.
So, I will tell you my story about seeing this song live. John Darnielle introduced it by saying, essentially, "I'm a little dubious about playing this song for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm not sure if I can remember the lyrics. Also, it tends to make my neighbors nervous." When he got to the chorus, we figured out why it makes his neighbors nervous. And oh, how we laughed. That was a good night, except for the part where my ceiling started leaking.
3. Heather Alexander--March of Cambreadth
Use your shield and use your head,
Fight 'till every one is dead
Raise the flag up to the sky,
How many of them can we make die?
I have a playlist called "Epic Battle" on my iPod, for those days when everything feels like a colossal struggle. Granted, washing my dishes is not really on par with hacking people apart medieval battle style, but whatever motivates me to get those dishes clean is epic enough for me.
4. The Smiths--Sweet and Tender Hooligan
Poor woman, strangled in her very own bed as she read
But that's okay
Because she was old and she would have died anyway
Don't blame the sweet and tender hooligan, hooligan
Because he'll never, never, never, never, never, never do it again
(not until the next time)
You know what this song has always reminded me of? This article from The Onion.
5. Sting-- Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)
I look forward to a better day
But ethical stuff never got in my way
And though there used to be brothers seven
The other six are singing in heaven
So, you might think, from the title and the lyrics excerpt, that this is a song about a guy who kills his six brothers for the woman he loves. But, in fact, it seems to me to be about a guy who kills his six brothers for any woman at all. Dude really, really wants a wife.
6. The Decemberists--Culling of the Fold
You can take him in a stitch
Dump his body in a ditch
Leave his limbs all naked
That'll teach him how to take it
Unlike Sting, who will couch his murders in subtlety, the Decemberists will come right on out there and advocate murder with no hedging. "Go on," they say, "kill people! It's really the right thing to do in the long run!" Oh, Decemberists. I never listened to all this creepy music before I started listening to you. You're like the gateway drug to music I feel uncomfortable listening to with my parents.
7. Otep--Run for Cover
Ripped at the seams
I destroy galaxies
Word becomes flesh
I bring nations to its knees
Yeah, I don't know if Otep's really killing people in this song so much as she's annihilating the universe or something, but the general theme of destruction seemed to be there.
8. Andrew W.K.--Ready to Die
We shoot without a gun,
We'll take on anyone,
It's really nothing new,
It's just a thing we like to do.
I don't know what the hell Andrew W.K. and his buddies get up to, but it seems to involve killing. I almost picture "The Most Dangerous Game" or something.
9. Green Day--Ha Ha, You're Dead
Ha ha you're dead
The joke is over
You were an asshole
And now you're gone
As your ship is going down
I'll stand by and watch you drown
This is the song that goes through my head any time a public figure I really don't like dies. It's horrible, and one tries not to be happy at the death of any of one's fellow human beings. But ever since I heard this song, it just kind of pops up without warning. Oh, well.
10. Kyla La Grange--Vampire Smile
But it's beautiful and I'm gonna get
so drunk on you and kill your friends.
You'll need me and we can be obsessed.
And I can touch your hair and taste your skin,
the ghosts won't matter 'cause we'll hide in sin.
Yeah, mostly this song appears to be about the creepy-ass relationship Kyla La Grange imagines with the "you" rather than actually killing people, but the way she sings this bit--like, hell yeah, I'll kill your friends, all gung-ho--makes me put this song in the Halloween-appropriate category.
11. Get Set Go--Die Motherfucker Die
Die, motherfucker die,
I'll burn out both your eyes,
And fill the sockets full of lye
I'll carve out your skull,
And I'll turn it to a bowl
That I'll eat my cereal with
as I watch the Flintstones
The thing I really love about this song is the contrast between the cheery music and the lyrics, which, as you can see...are not super cheery. Although the skull cereal bowl makes for a kind of amusing mental image.
12. Poe--Angry Johnny
I can do it with instruments
I can do it with my own bare hands
But either way
Either way, you know where it stands
I want to kill you
I want to blow you away
The tone of this song, conversely, is kind of sensual. You almost feel like Poe could pull a Judith on Johnny here, luring him in with her charms, and then stabbing him or something. That said, given that the lyrics basically consist of her fantasizing about ways to kill him, I don't know how charmed Johnny would be.
13. Ballboy--Meet Me at the Shooting Range
But if I, if I was going to kill you
I wouldn't tell you
I wouldn't tell you
But I, I'm not going to kill you
But I realize
That that's what I would say
So, uh, call me crazy, but I personally would not meet Ballboy at the shooting range.
You can download the whole mix here.