Just listening for the 784,654th time....and it's just perfect in every way. Just incredible. The only reason it was remade was to scoop up a boatload of money from a more modern and accepting audience. But it is a completely different song than the other one that sounds slapped together in a few takes without a thought for the meaning.
This song captivates me still, after 50+ years. Takes me to the deep South and the poverty of some who lived thru truly hard times. And the powerful spirit of a poor young girl being abandoned to her future with only a red dress and her wits to keep her alive.
She not only stayed alive, she turned her hard beginnings around, became self sufficient, successful and someone with respect for herself. She didn't let the naysayers and judgers stop her. She's the one sitting in the drivers seat at the end.
So, not a song about a poor girl, but a song of hope and how you can rise up no matter how far down you started.
There is a huge difference between a singer who simply belts out a song that is on a page in front of them, and someone who can convey an entire experience with their voice. Telling not just a story with words, but taking you inside it and making you feel like you are there, with their interpretation.
When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake
Spooks come out for a swinging wake
Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize,
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize
Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide
Or a silly spook may sit by your side
Shrouded in a daft disguise they pretend to terrorize,
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize
As the moon climbs high over the dead oak tree
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes start to shriek and harmonize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
When you hear the knell of a requiem bell
Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell
Restless bones etherealize rise as spooks of every size
Spooks come out for a swinging wake
Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize,
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize
Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide
Or a silly spook may sit by your side
Shrouded in a daft disguise they pretend to terrorize,
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize
As the moon climbs high over the dead oak tree
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes start to shriek and harmonize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!
When you hear the knell of a requiem bell
Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell
Restless bones etherealize rise as spooks of every size
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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