I came across a playlist of Halloween songs the other day; it was a selection of songs in the “heavy metal” genre. While appropriate for the occasion, I’m an “Old Fogey”, and I don’t particularly care to have people screeching at me and calling it “music”.

When it comes to Halloween music, it seems to me that we overuse the same old music – just as with Christmas. There’s a heck of a lot more out there that you can add to your own playlist.

Yes, it’s an instrumental. But sometimes, those can be the eeriest. Especially when used in one of the scariest movies of all time:

Mike Oldfield, “Tubular Bells”

If you want to stay in the “party” spirit, they’ve been making and recording tunes for Halloween for as long as there have been records. Here’s a collection from the late 20s and early 30s:

One of the “classics” that kept getting redone and reimagined was the tale of “Old Man Mose” / “Mysterious Mose”. Going back to at least 1929, people have been singing about that creepy old guy ever since:

Betty Hutton – “Old Man Mose” (1939)

Notice that little motif in there that sounds like someone skulking about in the shadows? It comes from an anonymous collection of incidental music to be played alongside a silent movie. Its earliest known publication was in 1914.

“Mysterioso Pizzicato” aka “The Villain’s Theme”: