This classic track by The Who was not intended specifically for Halloween, but in the recent decades, it has been added to the ever growing Halloween music repertoire.
The song may be inaccurate in assuming that the spider is male. Most of the spiders that people encounter are female. I don’t think that The Who intended any sexism, but maybe it should be “Natasha, The Spider”.
It was first released on the debut album The Who in 1966. It also appeared on an EP called A Quick One
Tim Curry appeared in a made-for-tv movie called The Worst Witch in 1986. He played the role of The Grand Wizard of The Witch Academy. Charlotte Rae also appeared as Miss Cackle the teacher, and Agatha, the teacher’s evil twin.
Curry performed a rather fetching number about Halloween Night in the film.
The movie was then released on VHS and DVD. You can still buy it on amazon but we have not found a streaming service that currently offers this film.
The movie was followed a TV Series of the same name. It can be found on free services tubi and Freevee.
Danny Elfman wrote the quintessential Halloween carol, “This is Halloween” for Tim Burton’s smash hit movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Every nerd knows the original. A lot of us have heard the song covered by the sicko whom is never mentioned. How excellent it is to have this new version — and (sort of) LIVE.
Broken Peach is dolled up in death skull makup and play the song live to tape on an overcast day in the woods somewhere. The supporting floor tom drums are the perfect finishing touch.GloOooOoMY.
I suspect this track gained them a lot of new fans since its was first published in 2015.
First there was the Thriller Video by Michael Jackson. You know it. You love it. It was a big hit on MTV when it first came out in 1984.
The dance routine in the original video is sublime and the most famous part of the video. Countless recreations have occurred in professional stage shows, school performances, Rocky Horror Picture Show local cast pre-shows, and so on.
A movie director in India decided to make a knock-off tribute called “Goli Maar” the next year. It was part of a movie called Donga
There are a number of crude uploads to YouTube, None of them are in great shape. The audio quality is always crap. The song does not appear to be available for digital download on Amazon. I wish the original recording would resurface so we can get a proper remaster. I consider it a cult-classic.
This versions is not too bad but they over saturated the colors.
Then a dance group in Japan remade the video (but not the song) in 2009.
Wait there’s more! Somebody did a remix/mashup in 2015. Somehow the video quality is best in this version.
Have a happy Halloween and do share this little story with your favorite wacky Halloween lover.
Imported into the United States in 1922, the “OKeh Laughing Record”–as it has come to be known–is one of the most unusual, (in its way) influential, and surprisingly enduring novelty records ever recorded.
There is nothing overly complicated about the recording itself. A solo cornet begins a rather slow, sad performance only to be quickly interrupted by a woman’s high-pitched, unrepentant, seemingly unforced laughter. She is quickly joined by a second laugher–a deep-voiced male–who, too, seems unable to contain himself. The mystery woman and man’s continuing, building chorus of giggles and guffaws eventually come to drown out, even usurp, the musical selection.
Because it was originally released with no credits or names attached, various “histories” of the “Laughing Record” have come into existence over the years. Generally accepted however is that the original recording was made in Berlin, Germany, in 1920 for the Beka label. The recording itself was an update/remake of an earlier purposefully laugh-centric recording, “The Misfortunes of Youth,” made by Henry Klausen in 1903.
The recording’s inexplicable, surprising success inspired a host of imitators, copy cats and pseudo sequels. The OKeh label itself issued the self-explanatory “Second Laughing Record” and “The OKeh Laughing Dance Record” as well as the equal-time-inclined “OKeh Crying Record” all before the end of the decade.
Perhaps because they were easy and quick to produce, a host of other “laughing” records also soon flooded the market, effectively creating their own bizarre subgenre. How they were ultimately used—as party background noise or for cheering up its listeners—is, of course, open to speculation.
Even after its initial notoriety died out, the “OKeh Laughing Record” remained strangely, firmly embedded within American culture. Radio humorist Jean Shepherd (whose original short stories developed into the beloved holiday classic “A Christmas Story”) used it regularly in his broadcasts as did Chicago children’s television icon Ray Rayner. Later, the recording would become a staple of Dr. Demento’s weekly radio show.
– Cary O’Dell
Courtesy of The National Registry, Abridged
Here is a small collection of memes, comics and photos. I found most of them last year so you might have seen many of them already. Most of these were posted to the Twitter and Tumbler accounts. Feel free to steal them.
Don’t forget to tune in to FunHouse Radio when the calendar says October. You’ll hear the greatest Halloween songs of all time. It gets EPIC during the last week.
Today is the first day of Oktoberfest. Eat your heart out, St. Patrick’s Day. For the next two weeks people in North America may pretend to be “German”. I suggest having Rouladen for dinner. Have a Kalter Hund for desert. Try a Schwarzbier. It’s the best!
Get in the mood to celebrate with this track by Werner-Wichtig. It’s is all about pumping out that tasty beer from kegs. Oktoberfest is also a great time to review your German vocabulary. The Lyrics can be found at the bottom of this page so you can sing along. Because it is a drinking song, it makes it even better if you murder the pronunciation.
This track is a parody of “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic, which was released in 1989 and hit Number Two on the West German pop charts. The instrumental version was included on the 7 inch single release. That made it really easy to create you own lyrics and sing over it. They probably got permission to use the track but I haven’t been able to find the details on that. It would have been possible to source the backing track from the 7 inch release without much of an issue. 45 RPM produces a superior signal verses 33 RPM. “Pump Ab Das Bier” was also released in 1989.
While the world is busy appropriating German culture this week, maybe we can excuse the apparel worn by the guys in the video. African inspired prints were popular at the time for White people to wear. Even I had a few shirts and hats at the time. We thought we were being cool. In hindsight, it’s cringe worthy. Conversely, Germans often cringe when they see American tourists wear kitchy lederhosen costumes at Oktoberfest celebrations.
Since the song first came out as a single, it’s been included in dozens of compilations. It was also re-released in 1998. I managed to get the original 12 inch vinyl record but it’s not in great condition. It’s a bit odd to me that they used the Statue of Liberty on the cover art, especially since the original song is by a Black Belgian band.
LYRICS (courtesy of LyricFind)
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab
Trink ihn aus den Humpen, komm lass dich nicht lumpen
Mann, kann ich euch pumpen
Pump ab das Bier, pump es jetzt, pump es hier
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, pump es, pump es, pump es
Aua, das schmeckt so gut
So ein Bierchen, das macht Laune und geht ins Blut
Aua, wo bin ich hier?
Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab
Trink ihn aus den Humpen, komm lass dich nicht lumpen
Mann, kann ich euch pumpen
Pump ab das Bier, pump es jetzt, pump es hier
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, pump es, pump es, pump es
Aua, noch en Korn, noch en Bier und noch en Korn und
Dann von vorn
Aua, wo bin ich hier?
Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, egal ob die Theke zusammenbricht
Heute lassen wir’s uns gut gehen und nach Hause gehen wir nicht
Pump es ab, sei nicht traurig, wenn der Kellner dich vergisst
Dafür wirst du schon seit Tagen von der Ehefrau vermisst
Aua, noch en Korn, noch en Bier und noch en Korn und
Dann von vorn
Aua, wo bin ich hier?
Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt Bescheid
Noch en
Pump ab das Bier, pump es ab, kriegst du auch die Hucke voll
Irgendwann läuft’s sicher besser, hauen wir uns die Birne voll
Pump es ab, denn heut ist Zahltag, heute schmeißt man uns nicht raus
Ich bestell’ schon mal die Runde, heut gibst du mal einen aus
Aua, das schmeckt so gut
So ein Bierchen, das macht Laune und geht ins Blut
Aua, wo bin ich hier?
Sag doch endlich mal dem Wirt bescheid
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier
Noch en Bier, noch en Bier, noch en Bier
– C. Hüther, F.T. Meyer-Thurn, R. Thielecke, R. Beyer
This classic banger was released as a single in 1982. It shot to #1 in the UK and stayed in the charts for months. The song is a combination of fairground vaudeville, ska, and radio pop. Below is an image of the paper sleeve on the 7 inch 45 RPM UK release.
The classic video was reissued in 4K about 8 years ago. How did we miss that? It looks better than ever. It was filmed in North London. The band members are seen acting out their coming-of-age tales in true Madness style.
FunHouse Radio 