Spooky Kinda Moondance

I can't recall how many times I've played those songs. I can recall that most of the times I've played them Halloween was approaching. There's just not that many decent Halloween tunes out there.

Spooky was first done by Classics IV in 1967. The version I recall most clearly is from the Atlanta Rhythm Section, which is comprised of some former members of Classics IV. But the Classics IV version is probably the most widely heard outside the South. Here's Classics IV doing it & here's ARS doing it live.

But how many tunes talk about proposing on Halloween? So it was almost destined to replace the few other tunes that had a Halloween connection. Think about it - would you rather hear Spooky or Monster Mash? Case rested.

Moondance is a Van Morrison number & consequently the name of one of his (in my humble opinion) best albums. And It Stoned Me, Into The Mystic, & Crazy Love would have made it a decent piece of vinyl (that's what those big CD's were made of back in the time before dirt) but adding Moondance really set it on the upper shelf. Here's a vid of the tune set to a neat slideshow.

Moondance is a jazzy little tune that can be swung or downplayed. You can take it too far in either direction but you almost have to try. At the heart of it is a really sweet little love song.

"Can I have just one more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with you, my love?"

Corny? Perhaps. But sweet. & most women will forgive corny if it's done in a sweet way (least I think so; if not that would explain all those failed relationships wouldn't it?)

A ton of jazz artists have covered Moondance. Too many to mention them all. But Paul Brown does a very tender, thoughtful version. A fellow name of Michael Buble does a more swinging version but his voice is smooth enough that it works well (plus the band doesn't over-swing it). Here's a vid of it set to a slideshow of Buble.

So if I had had an actual gig in October odds are I'd have done Spooky & Moondance. & honestly that'd have been alright as they're not bad tunes even if you don't care for Halloween. & I don't care for Halloween. Not that I hate it but it just never was a favorite holiday.

The neighborhood I grew up in was fairly rough. Not mid-60's Viet-Nam kinda rough but when I talked to an Army recruiter & he saw my zip code & found out I had never been shot he told me I could skip basic & jump right in as an E-6. On our property tax forms we did have a space for "ammo expenditures".

Back to the point - I grew up with my grandparents & they were getting on up there by the time I was a young teenager. When I was about 13 my grandfather called me into his room & told me to pick up his shotgun. He looked at me & said, "Boy, I'm getting too old & I don't see that good no more. Anyone tries to break in you gonna have to take care of 'em." So I was more or less in charge of security.

When I was 15 I had a gig on Halloween. Not a great gig - in fact that exposed me to the wonderful world of the music biz - we got ripped off. When I got back home my grandmother told me that someone had been beating on the door & threatened to break it down if they didn't give them money. They called the cops & set the hourglass to see how quick the response time was. It really was quicker to call Domino's & ask them to bring a .357 with them. But the miscreants left without doing much more than scaring a couple of old people. Well & really pissing me off. I have a soft spot for old folks & especially those old folks I'm typing about here.

So after that I spent most Halloweens as a teenager staying around the house & making sure no one tried anything unsavory. Luckily it was a fairly boring endeavor.

After my grandparents passed I did some partying on Halloween, but I was in college & we partied damn near every day anyway (least it seemed) so most were parties that just happened to occur on Halloween. We always wondered why everyone dressed funny on some days but didn't think too much of it.

So Halloween was never on my list of "great days of the year". But that doesn't mean I don't like the music. Well, except for Monster Mash.