It’s the moooost wonderful tiiiime of the year! Yes, the Halloween season (yes, it’s a full season now, thank you very much) is officially here, and as someone who adores all things creepy, atmospheric and frightening, I couldn’t be happier.
I love a good scare, whether it comes from a movie, TV show, book, or in this case, a wonderfully melodramatic song from a great British songwriter. I’ve shared unsettling songs on the blog here before, including The Hearse Song and The Mariner’s Revenge Song and I’m continuing the tradition with another cursed balad – Spanish Train.
In this epic balad by trabadour Chris de Burgh (who I was able to see perform live in concert several years ago – it was a fantastic experience), God and the Devil play a never-ending game of chess for the souls of the spirits riding a haunted train.
There’s a Spanish train that runs between
Guadalquivir and old Saville
And at dead of night the whistle blows
And people hear she’s running stillAnd then they hush their children back to sleep
Lock the doors, upstairs they creep
For it is said that the souls of the dead
Fill that train ten thousand deep.
You might know Chris de Burgh for his chart-topping love song Lady in Red, which is a banger, to be sure, but what I appreciate him most for is his storytelling. Songs like Don’t Pay the Ferryman, A Spaceman Came Travelling, and Borderline tells complex stories of love, loss, mystery and history. They’re ballads in the great medieval tradition of the traveling bard, and I love them. If you haven’t listened to any of his lesser known songs, I highly recommend giving them a try, especially if you also enjoy songs that tell a haunting story.
Is this your favourite time of year, too? What are some of your favourite scary things? We recently watched the Irish horror movie Oddity, which had a great, old-fashioned slow burn creepy vibe to it makes it perfect viewing for a dark and stormy night!
Linda at Teacher Dance is our Poetry Friday host this week!
Jane, thanks for the recommendations. I’m listening to Chris de Burgh now, and I think I’ll add Oddity to my list. I’m not much for having favorite scary things! I’ll have to think about that.
For me, my favourite scary stuff is anything supernatural – ghosts and hauntings and psychics and cursed objects, that sort of stuff. I never like watching anything at all realistic – no murderers or anything that I might see on the TV news, thank you very much! I like scary, but not *that* scary. 😉
Love all the scary things you mentioned, Jane! Yes, they tell a story, and one just for October. I agree that it’s a season. There is a street near me where the neighborhood is known for its fantastic decorations, and the block is full of hundreds of treat-or-treaters on Halloween night. My one scary childhood memory is the poem by James Whitcomb Riley, “Little Orphans Annie”. My grandfather would perform it for all of us on Halloween. Thanks for your Halloween treat!
I love that! There’s a house on our walk to school that has the biggest skeleton I’ve ever seen on its front lawn, it’s always an exciting moment when they put it back up!
I think my comment was lost, Jane! I love the scary words, and songs, nothing more fun than a ballad sung like in years ago when people flocked to hear those stories! My favorite from my childhood is my grandfather reciting James Whitcomb Riley’s “Little Orphant Annie”. Outloud, it’s good for screaming! Happy Halloween!
Oooh, you and my eldest daughter would get along so well. She eagerly awaits Spooky Season every year! She would be nodding along, “Yes! It’s an entire season!” 😀
My taste in all-things-spooky runs along the same lines as yours — no realistic psychopaths, thank you. Ghosts and fantastical things (and Stranger Things!) It’s all good as long as I’m not home alone, lol.
Oh, I love this dark and delicious post, Jane! Thanks for the introduction to Chris de Burgh. I’m with you – I love the spooky and anything haunty, but I can’t handle realistic cruelty or gore. Growing up, I used to love to watch the ancient black and white TV show “Dark Shadows” when I’d get home from school! HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEN MONTH! – Robyn HB
I’m entirely the same way, I can’t watch anything cruel or mean-spirited or based in reality in any way – there are enough terrible things happening in the world, I don’t need to watch the movie version of it! Give me magic, fantasy, ghosts and witches! I’m glad to spread knowledge of Chris de Burgh – my husband has been a big fan of his storytelling songs since he was in high school, so his songs have a special place in my heart. 🙂
Ooh! Jane, I love that YOU love all things scary. I have to admit being a big fat wienie when it comes to dark and stormy. But it is fun to read and hear and see your enthusiasm!
I find that as long as the movie is more science fiction or fantasy than reality, it doesn’t really scare me, but I stay away from anything that could be remotely “ripped from the headlines”, that’s too scary for me!
Yay for spooky season! I am easily frightened, but I like the atmospheric stuff. (I am a friend to corvids and black cats year-round.) Time to start decorating. Thanks for the haunting recommendations!
I strongly dislike anything that relies on startling loud noises or “jump scares” for its scares – give me a spooky black and white movie set in a haunted manor any day! My son has a deep fondness for black cats, they’re his favourite animals. 🙂
This is for sure my favorite time of year, but I love it for nature things, not scary things!
I absolutely agree with you there, it is the most beautiful time of the year!
I do love this time of year. Every beautiful moment I try to hold onto as I know the gray is coming. What spooky lyrics! I love how it’s fun for kids (and big kids to enjoy a bit of fright this time of year).
I love a good spooky song to set the Halloween mood!
Halloween is indeed a season. To coin an old Donovan song from the 60’s, it’s the season of the witch. Hope you get your fill of fun scary.
I love being able to celebrate all the holidays through my son, I get the best of all aspects of Halloween – the grown-up scary stuff and the sweet, cute kid side of things. 🙂
Jane, I have a love of Halloween because of children. Each year, the parade of Halloweeners came by to share their odd, beautiful, and strange outfits but the best were the homemade ones. I just listened the Hearse Song-strange and fun. Then there is the Mariners song – another fun one. Thanks for bringing in Halloween fun thoughts, songs-just in time for my son dragging in the Halloween boxes.
I definitely had some funny homemade costumes over the years! My son is going to be a pumpkin for the third time in a row, he’s a creature of habit and only likes the cute side of Halloween. 😉