“Spooky” was originally an instrumental tune by saxophonist Mike Sharpe. It charted as an instrumental in 1967 hitting No. 57 in the US. One year later vocals were added by Dennis Yost and the song was re-released as by Classics IV. That’s the version featured above. This version went on to hit No. 3 in the USA and 46 in the UK.

Shortly after, Dusty Springfield released her version, with genders flipped. This version is my favorite but does not lend itself to the Halloween season quite as well.

Eleven years later, a band called The Atlanta Rhythm Section recorded a nice 70s pop-rock version. Man the bass playing on this kicks ass.

Martha Reeves went on to recreate the song in the first person. This time it’s a Spooky Old Lady and she specifically mentions Halloween. It appeared on her 1986 album In the Midnight Hour.

Daniel Ash, best known for he work with goth-rockers Bauhaus and the new wave Love And Rockets released his take in 2006.

It got the Latin Jazz treatment earlier this year by the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band on the 2023 CD, Vox Humana featuring Janis Siegel on vocals.

And if you are curious about how the original 1966 instrumental sounded, here it is!

That’s a lot of versions. There are probably dozens of others. If you know of one that we missed, let us know in the comments!