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The top Halloween song as voted for by you, our readers, has nothing to do with supernatural horrors or Halloween in particular. ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials is a chilling comment on economic policy in 1980’s Britain under conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Is that the icy wind of our current economic climate speaking through your vote? Or is that a nod to a band that simply had style and could deliver sharp social criticism without sounding hypocritical?

The Top Halloween Song: ‘Ghost Town’ By The Specials

The #2 Song: ‘Zombie Dance’ By The Cramps
Far removed from the gallows humour of The Specials is our number two: ‘Zombie Dance’ by The Cramps. Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, two fans of 1950’s B-Movies, Betty Page bondage pix and trashy Rock-A-Billy ditties, launched The Cramps onto the 1976 New York Punk Rock scene. In their Leather ‘n’ Latex sex shop gear, The Cramps stood out even in the crowd at Punk hangouts CBGBs or Max’s Kansas City.

The Cramps cut many a horror movie inspired track, some self-penned some covers of obscure 50’s and 60’s singles: ‘I Was A Teenage Werewolf’, ‘Human Fly’, ‘Goo Goo Muck’ and the ‘Zombie Dance’ featured here. The tale goes that the band financed its early recording sessions with the income Ivy made as a dominatrix, whipping Wall Street butts.

Original Cramps videos are rare as hen’s teeth. This one might give you an idea what the band were like at their peak in the early 80’s:

Watch The Cramps Play ‘Garbageman’ In The Crypt

Here’s How You Voted:

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At joined third position are Screaming Jay Hawkins’ swamp blues ‘I Put A Spell On You’ and Bauhaus’ Goth rock anthem ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’.

Joined #3: ‘I Put A spell On You’ By Screaming Jay Hawkins
‘Screamin Jay’ - or Jalacy to his mum - Hawkins had already aborted short careers as an opera singer and a boxer when he decided to try his hand as a rock’n'roll singer. Spicing up his act with a bit of Voodoo schtick was the cleverest move he ever made. He might have been living the urbane life, but his stage persona and lyrics call up a fantasy world of Louisiana swamp blues, Gumbo cauldrons and Voodoo chicken bones cast on the front porch.

Watch Jay At His Voodoo Best Doing ‘Spell’ As Only He Can

Joined #3: ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ By Bauhaus
Lyrically speaking, ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ is as neat a piece of Halloween poetry as you are likely to hear this year. Check this out:

“The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi’s dead”
(’Bela Lugosi’s Dead’, Bauhaus, 1979)

The music that goes with it is a bass driven, Dub influenced groove that was way ahead of its time.

Bauhaus are often described as the pioneers of Goth Rock. The tag is a bit unfair, as the lads from Northampton actually had a knack for dancey rhythms and minimal Dub treatments.

Watch Bauhaus Perform ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’

Also Rans - The Best Of The Rest
Bauhaus were contemporaries of a certain Michael Jackson. While Bauhaus gaze dreamily into the world of vampires, Jackson had a video made showing him turn into a werewolf on a date and subsequently enlisting a bunch of Zombies as backing dancers for his street gang style routine. The song, ‘Thriller’, is another Halloween classic but failed to break into the Top Three.

Surprisingly, Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s attempt merging the Mashed Potatoe dance craze of 1962 with some Boris Karloff style monologue didn’t even come near the Top Three. ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & The Cryptkickers was banned by the BBC for having morbid lyrics. I know, it’s hard not to laugh at this stage, as the lyrics are certainly more inane than grisly.

It’s Time To Do The Monster Mash!

More surprisingly, the classic ‘76 slasher punk of ‘I Don’t Wanna Go (Down To The Basement)’ didn’t receive any votes at all. Hey folks, what’s up? What line sums up primal fear better than ‘I don’t wanna go down to the basement, there’s something down there’?

Around the same time as ‘I Don’t Wanna Go’, the Ramones also wrote a song inspired by watching the classic horror movie ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, imaginatively titled ‘Chainsaw’.

Enough said. Thanks to everybody who contributed song suggestions, voted or provided feedback on the Halloween poll. I hope you might have (re-) discovered the odd gem on the shortlist of Halloween songs.

Listen Here To All Songs From Our Halloween Poll