The song “Black Magic Woman” was made famous by Carlos Santana. It first appeared as a single and then on Santana’s 1970 album Abraxas. Any number of greatest hits compilations feature the song. This performance was occurred while the song was in the charts. The man and the band are in top form and the result is sublime.
The song was first recorded in 1968 by Fleetwood Mac. It was written by Peter Green, a founding member of the group.
When Carlos Santana decided to do the song, he created a medley arrangement that incorporated Gábor Szabó‘s 1966 instrumental “Gypsy Queen”, a mix of jazz, Hungarian folk and Latin rhythms. My mother is half Hungarian. She LOVES to tell people these details.
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.
still frame from The Worst Witch
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.
still shot from the video
I suspect this track gained them a lot of new fans since its was first published in 2015.
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.
courtesy of discogs
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.
U.S. Bowling League Day is recognized every year on September 3rd. Why not celebrate this grand occasion by actually going to a bowling alley? Take it up a notch and shave your heads before you head out.
Bowling is a lot of fun and it is healthy exercise. Pop this track in the car stereo on your way to the bowling alley to really get in the mood.
“Take The Skinheads Bowling” by Camper Van Beethoven was released both as a single and on the album Telephone Free Landslide Victory in 1985. It enjoyed significant airplay in the UK and was featured on the Dr Demento Show here in the USA.
The song was written by band member David Lowery. In his blog he writes,
“The Skinheads Bowling as just a weird nonsensical song. The lyrics were purposely structured so that it would be devoid of meaning. Each subsequent line would undermine any sort of meaning established by the last line. It was the early 80′s and all our peers were writing songs that were full of meaning. It was our way of rebelling.”
Patrick Stewart & Yule Brynner
We found lyrics on genius.com, but cannot verify that they are 100% correct.
[Verse 1] Every day, I get up and pray to Jah And he increases the number of clocks by exactly one Everybody’s comin’ home for lunch these days Last night there were skinheads on my lawn
[Chorus] Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling
[Verse 2] Some people say that bowling alleys got big lanes (Got big lanes, got big lanes) Some people say that bowling alleys all look the same (Look the same, look the same) There’s not a line that goes here that rhymes with anything (Anything, anything) Had a dream last night but I forget what it was (What it was, what it was)
[Chorus] Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling
[Verse 3] Had a dream last night about you, my friend Had a dream–I wanted to sleep next to plastic Had a dream–I wanted to lick your knees Had a dream–it was about nothing
[Chorus/Outro] Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling Take the skinheads bowling Take them bowling
Before I end this blog, I wanted to remember a cool drone video that was shot at a bowling alley in Minneapolis. The place is called Bryant Lake Bow and I’ve had great times there back in the 2000s.
Get out there and go bowling folks! It’s a great time!
Imagine that it’s the 90s and you’ve just arrived home. The first thing you do is press PLAY on your answering machine. Then you find out that your son is currently in jail. Not only that but he’s gone nuts. He claims to love it there.
Was (Not Was) wrote a song about it. The track features a mix of acoustic and electronic instruments. I would classify it as experimental jazz. It’s weird as hell and certainly not a traditional pop song. “Dad, I’m in Jail” was the final track on their 1988 album What Up, Dog?.
courtesy of RYM
I got my first CD player in 1989 or 1990. I quickly joined both Columbia House and BMG music services. I got What Up, Dog? on CD from one of those two. I checked to see if I still have it in my collection and sadly I do not.
The video here is not the official video for the song. The band itself never made one. This is actually an animation piece made for MTV’s Liquid Television. It first aired on October 1, 1992, part of season two.
At the time animation was not as ubiquitous as it is today. The technology to create animation was nothing like what we have now. Liquid Television was one of the only places that a casual viewer could see animated works of art. It also is where future popular shows like Beavis and Butthead were first tested out on an audience.
This upload looks like a VHS recording from live TV. As a result it is in mono and does not sound very good, so for your reference, I found a better sounding recording of the track here.
FunHouse Radio USA 