Let’s learn about interesting Mexican traditions while practicing some simple Spanish. The vocals are a little “pitchy” but they work well enough to help us learn. Play it twice and I promise you will have learned or relearned some vocabulary. By the way, Rockalingua has produced many more videos like this one that combine music with learning.
Learn more about the traditions associated with Día de los Muertos with this extensive National Geographic article.
Today is Halloween and this might be the most appropriate song. Released in 1993, it became an instant classic. It’s not quite as ubiquitous as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or Bobby Picket’s “Monster Mash” but it fit’s the occasion like a spooky glove.
“Danny Elfman, who has scored many of Tim Burton’s imaginative films (Edward Scissorhands, his two Batman films, etc.), is a perfect musical partner for the somewhat macabre director, and never more so than here, where, Elfman gets to play the main character. The Nightmare Before Christmas is an animated movie musical about the abduction of Christmas by the denizens of Halloween land, and Elfman sings the part of Jack, the Pumpkin King.” (allmusic, edited)
Danny Elfman is the man. He’s having a moment right now having recently performed a career spanning concert.
The Rattles were a rock band from Hamburg Germany. They are best known for the hit single “The Witch” sung in English and released in 1970 at the height of psychedelia.
Here we have a recovered copy of the original music film, probably from a VHS tape. Someone attempted to re-include the music but it falls out of sync eventually. The colors are muted as well and that makes it extra creepy. What’s not to love about this?
The single reached number 4 in Germany, 8 in the UK and 79 in the US. It was included on the album also called The Witch in 1971. We love the cover-art
Henner Hoir was a band member at the time. He eventually left The Rattles to go solo and perform in other bands. The song was also released under his name and was included on several Henner Hoir greatest hits compilations. For this reason it is frequently credited to him alone rather than the band. It’s kind of odd because he is not even the vocalist. The lead vocals on this track are by Edna Bejarano. She also sang the German version.
Herr Hoir went on to record the song again with an entirely different band called The Rivets. In this writers opinion, it’s a disappointing remake. It’s lacks the energy and pensive character of the original.
The song faded into obscurity in North America but reemerged in recent years as DJS and music fans dig for deeper cuts for their Halloween season playlists. FunHouse Radio is no exception. The remastered English version is in rotation for the season.
“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.
The song was first recorded in 1968 by Fleetwood Mac and 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 that.
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.
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
FunHouse Radio 