Friday, August 22, 2008

Weekend Listomania (Special Mandrake Gestures Hypnotically! Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental rentboy amanuensis Hop-Sing and I are off for another weekend in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. We'll be putting our asses on the line in the fight against tyranny there by joining the Robert Kagan/William Kristol Brigades. As we mentioned previously, it's sorta like the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, except that Kagan and Kristol won't be joining us, despite the fact that unlike Lincoln they are actually alive.

In any case, posting by moi will thus be sporadic for a few days.

But in the meantime, here's a fun project to tide us all over:

Best Post-Elvis Pop/Rock Record Whose Title References the Supernatural!!!

Totally arbitrary rule: The actual word "supernatural" in the title is okay.

Okay, here's my totally top of my head Top Seven:

7. Smashing Pumpkins -- Glass and the Ghost Children



Proving once again that there isn't a Listomania topic I can come up with that doesn't have a relevant song featuring Billy Corgin's pretentious bald noggin.

6. Redbone -- Witch Queen of New Orleans



These guys -- by which I mean twins Pat and Lolly Vegas -- ran one of the best r&b-influenced rock bands of their day. Never really gotten their due, alas....

5. Duane Eddy -- Ghost Riders in the Sky



Actually, the song predates Elvis (Vaughan Monroe had the first hit version in the late 40s) but it's inspired a zillion covers. Duane and his trademark twangy guitar is an excellent fit, obviously.

4. A tie:

Jimi Hendrix -- Voodoo Chile



and

Godsmack -- Voodoo



Devolution in action, I think.

2. Bruce Springsteen -- The Ghost of Tom Joad



You know, somedays I think Bruce would have been really happy to be Merle Haggard.

And the numero uno coolest rock song about the supernatural, hands down it's so totally obvious if you try to argue with me I swear to god I'll harm you so just don't, is ---

1. Roky Erikson -- I Walked With a Zombie



The fact that this man is alive, touring, sounding great and apparently enjoying himself in the process has got to be one of the nicest musical stories of the last couple of years.

Awright then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania, Marquis de Sade edition, is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you could see your way to leaving a comment over there, an angel gets its wings.]

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'

When you believe in things you don't understand...

Who Am Us Anyway? said...

I’m still liking The Iguanas' pre-Plant & Krauss cover of Fortune Teller. And now I get my fortune told for free.

Anonymous said...

Classics IV
Spoooky

Santana
Black Magic Woman

Zombies = She's Not There (possibly)

Witches Song
MArianne Fathfull

TMink said...

The Ms. and I just got back from seeing Bruce live, no Tom Joad though. Thankfully!

The Boss did mention that today (Thursday barely) is Joe Strummer's birthday, so he did I Fought The Law Clash style.

But, more on point:

Devil In My Car - B52s, one of their best beats! I love it when Fred says "HELL!"

Can't Get It Out Of My Head - FOW and ELO, maybe a stretch, but the song at least describes a transcendent moment, if not a mythical one.

Inca Roads - Frank Zappa, my favorite of Frank's many cosmic songs. Did a booger bear come from somewhere out there?

Waiting On The UFOs - Graham Parker and the Rumour. Does cosmically undocumented count? I hope so.

1983... (a merman I should turn to be) or Third Stone From The Sun - Jimi. That was one tripped out and freaky dude! He had a true cosmic sensibility.

Duppy Conqueror - Bob Marley, I heard that a duppy was a sort of a zombie, so Bob was saying he was the man. Well, he was!

Devil With A Green Dress - Matthew Sweet and of course Devil with a Blue Dress.

Monsters - Meat Puppets. They went from cowboy punk to heavy punk.

Ghost Dance - Patti Smith, haunting. Really!

And now I am tired enough to crash, too tired to list all the Angel variations.

Trey

steve simels said...

Trey:

Springsteen doing "I fought the Law" for Joe must have been thrilling. Wow.

Although, I can't imagine what it must be like seeing them without Danny. So sad...

Feral said...

I'm on time for a change...

Fleetwood Mac - Hypnotized

Springsteen - Spirits in the Night

Donovan - Season of the Witch

The Police - Wrapped Around My Finger

Neil Young - Cortez the Killer

Dr. John - I Walk on Guilded Splinters

The Kenosha Kid said...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil

Black Sabbath - Fairies Wear Boots

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper

Screamin Jay Hawkins - Little Demon

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Astral Plane

Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil

Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Ghost in You

Anonymous said...

Steve-0 -

Are we on for Patti on Sunday night? Drop me a line, amigo:
dano533700@aol.com

- bill buckner

Wendy said...

Magic - Springsteen
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - Police
Devil in Her Heart - Beatles
I Put a Spell on You - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Love Potion Number Nine- Searchers

MBowen said...

What? No one's mentioned "Werewolves of London" yet?

TJWood said...

R.E.M.: Supernatural Superserious

The Rolling Stones: 2,000 Light Years From Home

The Who: I Can See For Miles

Black Sabbath: The Wizard

Pink Floyd: (tie) "Interstellar Overdrive" and "Astronomy Domine"

dave™© said...

There's a Ghost in the House - R. Dean Taylor (though I prefer the Paul Young-led B.E.F. version)

Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel (more about UFO abduction, but what the hell)

#9 Dream - Lennon (I often see this song as Lennon predicting his encounter with Chapman - that's eerie, my friends!)

Wendy said...

"I Ain't Superstitious" - Jeff Beck Group

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" - Dylan

"White Rabbit" - Jefferson Airplane

"Magic" - The Cars

"Spirits in the Material World" - The Police

and one of my all-time faves:

"Magic Bus" - The Who

cosmic tumbler said...

Santana's albums

Supernatural and Shaman.

preznit said...

from the WinAmp

Belaire- "Haunted Castle"
Gothic Archies- "Walking My Gargoyle"
Mitch Easter- "Phantoms of Ephemera"
Tullycraft- "Dracula Screams of Tiger Style"
Magnetic Fields- "Zombie Boy"
Joe Jackson- "Invisible Man"

and from the collection
My Favorite- "My Life With the Living Dead"
The Besties- "Zombie Song"
Sprites- "George Romero"

Anonymous said...

Witchy Woman -- eagles

Noam Sane said...

Supernatural Thing.

Ben E. King. Great, funky tune.

Cool Soul Train clip.