Note: I’m settling in to start my Halloween post. How very fitting that my hit count just hit 6,666. Yikes… that’s freaky!!

The trick to the quality Halloween post is to find those diamonds in the catacombs the are hidden under the all the dust and grime. Those tunes that haven’t been brought up every every year like some sort of obligatory carol; Monster Mash comes to mind. It’s difficult to mix quality music with Halloween.

I’ve got to give props to David Williams, every year he blasts Tom Waits over the ghetto blaster as the young ones cautiously tread up his walkway for the promise of a treat, in hopes that he will create a new generation of Tom Waits fans. This courageous soul breaks convention for the sake of bringing quality music to Halloween. With blatant disreguard for the looks he must receive from the young mothers taking their batman and princess dressed younguns out on their first Trick or Treat tour, Mr. Williams plays Waits’ darkest and scariest album. Bones and chains rattle as Tom’s gristly voice rambles on about apocalyptic horrors, murdering drifters and vultures circling families who get decimated in the pits of the Colosseum. Bone Machine has been one of my most loved albums for nearly one and a half decades. Good luck to you this year David Williams, your quest is noble!

In efforts to bring Halloween and quality music together, here are 4 tracks that are both good, and belong on your Halloween mixtape:

Halloween on the Barbary Coast – The Flaming Lips

The Barbary Coast refers to the Northwestern coasts of Africa that were ripe with pirates and slave traders during the 16th to 19th centuries. Rumour has it that the Lips wrote this song after getting kicked out of one hotel, then getting heckled at the next: The Barbary Coast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. I prefer to assume that the Lips hold a high standard of cleanliness, but this story does shed light on the perplexing lyrics.

Zombie Zoo – Tom Petty

One of the lesser known tracks from Tom Petty’s classic 1989 album Full Moon Fever has a fear inspiring opening that conjures the image of the living dead, but the song itself is not about the zombies of All Hallows Eve. Dancing at the Zombie Zoo is referring to clubbing at the late night spots with the hardcores. Living a vampiric lifestyle while still being human. Playing the part of a zombie can take it’s toll, leading to head shaving that makes one look like Boris Karloff.

Season of the Witch – Donovan

From the1966 album Sunshine Superman, this classic track has stood the test of time, remaining one of the greatest tracks from the hippie era with lyrics containing several idioms of the time:

When I look over my shoulder,
What do you think I see ?
Some other cat looking over
His shoulder at me

And he’s strange, sure he’s strange.
You’ve got to pick up every stitch,
You’ve got to pick up every stitch,
Beatniks are out to make it rich,
Oh no, must be the season of the witch

I’m particularly fond of the Beatniks out to make it rich, but have no idea what the line “You’ve got to pick up every stitch” mean… any ideas? The best answer I found was that is means nothing because Donovan was likely stoned when he wrote it. I’m terribly dissatisfied with that answer! But, this can’t change the fact that this tune is a must play today.

Thriller (Richard Grey Remix) – MJ

Since it’s the 25th anniversary of the track, and Thrill the World succeeded in on breaking the Guinness record with 4,177 simultaneous Thriller dancers… and because really, Thriller is a really good tune, I’ll include this banging remix. The regular Pacha DJ maintains the class and theatrics of the original, while bringing it up to date with beats worthy of today’s hottest dance floors. Check out his newest offering: a down tempo remix of Bob Marley at mySpace.

Happy Halloween!!!

This post is the first in a multi-part tribute to great cover versions from any time and any place. I love when an artist takes a song made popular by another and redoes it, not in the same old way as the original version, but in a fresh, and new way; completely making it their own. I dedicate this series to those who are brave to take a great song of another, and put out their own unique version of it for all to hear, and judge against the original. On with the covers!

You Really Got a Hold On Me – She & Him

Volume One (2008)

This is the best version of this song I have heard since the big and beautiful blond, Bonnie Bramlett, belted out the classic on the picnic table in the Conner back yard during an early episode of Rosanne. Originally written by Smokey Robinson in 1962, the song embodies the pleasureful pain that comes from loving someone so much it hurts. The collaboration by actress Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, She & Him, brought us the album Volume One in March 2008. This track is my favorite from the album. It showcases the beautiful vocals of Deschanel in a stunning duet with Ward, with the unobtrusive yet divine acoustic guitar accompaniment that takes the listener to the place where Robinson must have been when he penned this classic.

Don’t Come Around Here No More – Vampire Weekend

The young up and comers Vampire Weekend with Andrew W.K. gave props to the legend Tom Petty a week or so ago in Central Park, NYC, by doing their version of “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. I have much loved the musical offerings from Tom Petty for many years, since my sister gave me a copy of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits for Christmas in ‘93. I fully share Vampire Weekend’s sentiment when they proclaim Tom Petty as a “true fucking poet”! Rock on!

I was originally planning on including the very easy to get track Scarlett Johansson’s versions “Falling Down” by Tom Waits, because I, an avid Waits fan, enjoy her refreshing feminine renditions of Waits’ crookedly strange lyrics… but, I recently discovered AM/PM/FM seem to have received a cease and desist order for posting about her album, so I won’t do that! To think I was going to add her as a friend on myspace! Gosh!

Watch for more editions of Cover-liscious on Road 2 Nowhere in the future!