SOUNDTRACK: CRASH TEST DUMMIES-“The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” (1994).
Crash Test Dummies are mostly known for Brad Roberts’ deep voice. But for this song Roberts only says the opening “Let’s begin” while the main verses are sung by Ellen Reid. Reid has an amazing voice and was often underutilized by the band.
Musically, the song is pretty similar to the original–guitars and harmonica and the like. The choruses are a little bigger because Roberts contributes his bass vocals to Reid’s lead.
It is still catchy as all get out.
For the final verse, they bring the music down and focus on Reid’s vocals. The big difference comes with the “awful lot like me” line. Where XTC plays a big guitar chord, CTD has more of a keyboard buildup. It still works though.
It’s a really solid cover.
Hooray!
[READ: October 31, 2019] “Dead Man’s Hate”
Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. and Ghost Box II. comes Ghost Box III.
This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween. It is lovingly described thusly:
Oh god, it’s right behind me, isn’t it? There’s no use trying to run from Ghost Box III, the terrifying conclusion to our series of limited-edition horror box sets edited and introduced by Patton Oswalt.
There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, I’m going to read in the order they were stacked.
This is a bonus story printed on the inside of The Ghost Box.
There’s no context, no biography, not even a year (I had to look that up). So this poem stands on its own.
It is written in rhyming couplets with an easy meter and is quite easy to follow.
I don’t know if the two main characters John Farrell and Adam Brand are meant to be anyone in particular or if this poem has “meaning” beyond what is written. But the poem itself is pretty spooky.
John Farrell is hanged (the crime is not stated) at dawn. At dusk Adam Brand came by and spat on his face. He tells his neighbors that a “hempen noose is stronger than man’s hate” because John Farrell vowed revenge on Brand come life or death.
But before anyone could respond to Brand, Farrell’s corpse lifted its head and stared at Brand.
Farrell hops down and gives Brand chase. I love this line: “through the shuddering marketplace, the dying fled the dead.”
I won’t give away what happens next, but the end line line pretty good:
For stronger than death or hempen noose are the fires of a dead man’s hate.
And the final Ghost Box is put to rest.
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