Apocalypse Mixtape Part VIII: The Season of the Witch

Well, friends, it's that most wonderful time of year again when you can buy fake blood in any drugstore, there's always a horror movie playing somewhere on tv and mini-sized candy bars rain down from the skies. If Halloween isn't your favorite holiday, then you're probably on the wrong site. Don't worry, the internet's big; with a little creative googling you can probably find that website dedicated to all forms of Christopher Columbus or Labor-based entertainment you've always dreamed of. Here at BGH, though, we're all about the Halloween and in this installment of Apocalypse Mixtape we're gonna do it like they do in Haddonfield and get down with some Halloween songs.

Halloween Theme Song - Original Vocal Mix
It's a little known fact that when John Carpenter wrote the Halloween theme music it wasn't always meant to be instrumental. Much like the theme songs of MASH and The Andy Griffith Show, most people aren't aware that the famous instrumental tune originally had lyrics that told the story of the movie, a trend that didn't really catch on until movie soundtracks of the 80s. After a disastrous test screening, Carpenter replaced the vocal version with the instrumental and had all the original recordings destroyed, and refused to speak of them again. It was thought that Carpenter's original vision of the Halloween theme song was lost forever until last year when a copy of the lyrics popped up on eBay and an intrepid YouTuber recreated the song in all its vocal glory.

Halloween - Stephen Lynch

This is a live performance from Carson Daly's tv show (no, that's not the scary part) of a song that I consider the Jingle Bells of late October. This is a great track to put you in the holiday spirit whether you're carving pumpkins, getting the razor blades just right in the apples, or making sure the child-shackles in your pit are nice and secure.

Do They Know it's Hallowe'en? - North American Hallowe'en Prevention Initiative

Of course, in the midst of all the Halloween frivolity it's important to remember those around the world who are less fortunate and live in countries that don't celebrate All Hallow's Eve. It's in this spirit that a number indie rock luminaries came together to record the charity record "Do They Know it's Halloween?". The Canadian-heavy roster of the NAHPI consists of Win Butler & Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire, Beck, Buck 65, David Cross, Liane Balaban of Dessert, Devendra Banhart, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Feist, Gino Washington, Syd Butler of Les Savy Fav, J'aime Tambeur of Islands, Malcolm McLaren, Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Peaches, Dntel, Jenny Lewis & Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley, Roky Erickson, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Asya & Chloe of Smoosh, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Russell Mael of Sparks, Subtitle, Steve Jocz of Sum 41, Tagaq, Anna Waronker of That Dog, Dan Boeckner & Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade and Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. As you listen to the song think of all the candy-starved kids out there without a mask to cover their face and laugh like Vincent Price after sharing his devious plan.