Great "Ghost Story" songs

[auburngrad82]

I was drivin' to work in the rain, nursin' a cuppa Joe, when "Big Joe and Phantom 309" came crawlin' outta the speakers. The version was by Archers of Loaf from the Tom Waits tribute CD Step Right Up. Anyone know of any other "ghost story" songs that are worth a damn?

One other comes to mind- The Ride by David Alan Coe.



Liberal bumper stickers

[ghostsofgiants]

1. A whole album...

Granted it's an emo album, which some folks might not enjoy, but it's damn good.

[MorningGlow]

2. Not quite a ghost story but

"Swamp Witch"--this one freaked me out when I was little. By Jim Stafford (yeppers, he of "Spiders and Snakes" fame). I think he sang it on his own variety show--remember when every singer or comedian had his or her own hourlong variety show?? I remember he was sitting on a stool surrounded by creepy moss-hung trees and every time he said the name "Hattie" he'd draw it out in a hoarse whisper. "Hhhhhhhattieeee..."

Okay, it was corny, but it sure was effective at scaring the living daylights out of an eight-year-old!

Black water Hattie lived back in the swamp
Where the strange green reptiles crawl
Snakes hang thick from the cypress trees
Like sausage on a smokehouse wall
Where the swamp is alive with a thousand eyes
An' all of them watching you
Stay off the track to Hattie's Shack in the back of the Black Bayou

Way up the road from Hattie's Shack
Lies a sleepy little Okeechobee town
Talk of swamp witch Hattie lock you in when the sun go down
Rumours of what she'd done, rumours of what she'd do
Kept folks off the track of hattie's shack
In the back of the Black Bayou

One day brought the rain and the rain stayed on
And the swamp water overflowed
'skeeters and the fever grabbed the town like a fist
Doctor Jackson was the first to go
Some say the plague wasa brought by Hattie
There was talk of a hang'n too
But the talk got shackled by the howls and the cackles
From the bowels of the Black bayou

Early one morn 'tween dark and dawn when shadows filled the sky
There came an unseen caller on a town where road run dry
You'd swear there was found a big black round
Vat full of gurgling brew

Whispering sounds as the folk gathered round
"It came from the Black Bayou"
There ain't much pride when you're trapped inside
A slowly sink'n ship
Scooped up the liquid deep and green
And the whole town took a sip
Fever went away and the very next day the skies again were blue
Let's thank old hattie for sav'n our town
We'll fetch her from the Black Bayou

Party of ten of the town's best men headed for Hattie's Shack
Said Swamp Witch magic was useful and good
And they're gonna bring hattie back
Never found Hattie and they never found the shack
Never made the trip back in
There was a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
Said don't come look'n again

------
Funny how she turned out to be a good witch in the end, even with all the creepy acoutrements. I like that!

[auburngrad82]

9. I forgot about that one! I loved it when I was a kid.

but then Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie...

[BreweryYardRat]

3. Opeth's "Ghost Reveries" album, anyone?

[myrna minx]

4. Where the Wild Roses Grow

by Nick Cave.

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name is Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name is Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
That grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped at the tears that ran down my face



On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen
I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

On the second day he came with a single red rose
Said: "Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
He said, "if I show you the roses will you follow?"



On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, "All beauty must die"
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

[WoodyTobiasJr]

5. Love Vigilantes - New Order

Oh I've just come
From the land of the sun
From a war that must be won
In the name of truth
With our soldiers so brave
your freedom we will save
With our rifles and grenades
And some help from God
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I've got to go home
I've been so alone, you see

You just can't believe
The joy I did recieve
When I finally got my leave
And I was going home
Oh I flew through the sky
my convictions could not lie
For my country I would die
And I will see it soon
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I've got to go home
I've been so alone, you see

When I walked through the door
My wife she lay upon the floor
And with tears her eyes were sore
I did not know why
Then I looked into her hand
And I saw the telegram
That said that I was a brave, brave man
But that I was dead
I want to see my family
My wife and child waiting for me
I've got to go home
I've been so alone, you see

[patcox2]

6. Strange Things Happen In This World

Its one of those "dead teen" songs from the fifties, like Last Kiss and The Leader of the Pack. Guy goes to the dance, meets beautiful, nice girl, walks her home, lends her his sweater.

Goes back next day and knocks on door for sweater, tells her father he met her at the dance.

Father says "how can you be so cruel, you must know my daughter died a year ago last night." He goes to the graveyard, and there over her grave is his sweater.

A masterpiece of the genre.

[auburngrad82]

10. Steve Goodman did a "dead girl" medley on No Surprises

It's great and does include this one.

[Aristus]

7. "The Traveller" by Chris De Burgh.

The Traveller

In from the coast, riding like the wind and racing the moon,
Shadows on the road, dancing and a-weaving like a crazy fool.
A horseman is coming, death in his heart, for a rendezvous,
And where the traveller goes, nobody knows,
Where the traveller goes, nobody knows....

A candle in the night, fear on every face when he goes inside,
"Maybe he's on the run,"
Get back from the bar, a stranger in town is a dangerous sight,
"Maybe he's got a gun,"
"Bring a bottle of whisky landlord, I want to talk for a while,"
And where the traveller goes, a cold wind blows,
Where the traveller goes, a cold wind blows,

There is something in his eyes, something in his hands,
You can almost smell his revenge,
And whoever he is after, it will be disaster,
This man is gonna take him to the very end;

Well the landlord he trembled, staring at a face he'd seen somewhere before,
"You laid him in the ground,"
Suddenly remembered a killing, yes a murder many years before,
"'T was you that shot him down,"
He said to a boy, "Saddle me the black, I'll meet you down below,
With this man I must talk, with this traveller I'll go,
With this man I must talk, yes with him I must go,

There is something in his eyes, something in his hands,
I can almost smell his revenge,
And it's me that he's after, it will be disaster,
This man is gonna take me to the very end,"
And they were never seen again!

[Vidar]

8. Ghost Riders in the Sky