SOUNDTRACK: “Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Screaming Song)“ Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride (1963).
When producer/musicians John Congleton was a guest DJ on NPR, he played some expected and then some very unexpected songs. The most surprising (although it does make sense) was this song from the Disney Haunted Mansion.
Maybe this song is the reason why he likes the dark so much.
It’s a fun bouncy song, like most Disney stuff it’s hard to believe anyone was really afraid of it, and yet as a kid, that voice and those sounds could certainly be frightening. The song has all kinds of sounds in it–keys, tubular bells, xylophone, hammered percussion marimba, and a lot of backing vocals. And of course the amazing vocals (and laughs) Thurl Ravencroft and others. There’s also great effects with analog tape. He also points out that the chord progression is quite chromatic: A to B flat to B which is jagged and close together and not easy to listen to.
Congleton says (listen around 34:50):
The vocals are done by Thurl Ravenscroft, who was the voice of Tony the Tiger and the Grinch. I mean, This is Tom Waits before Tom Waits. When I was a kid, I was so attracted to this song, but I was scared of it. The record would sit with my other records and I would see it in there, and I would be like, ‘Do I have the bravery to listen to it right now?’ And sometimes I would, and I was mesmerized by it. But the then I grew up, and I went back and listened to it, and was like, ‘This is brilliant. This is really, really well done.’ I never in my entire life heard background vocals that sounded as tight as that. Never in my life. The harmonies are the tightest harmonies I have ever heard ever. And it’s like, this is for a silly kid’s record — but they were committed to making something special. Everything about that song is incredible to me.”
And yes, it is a silly song, but the recording is really impressive.
[READ: April 20, 2017] Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?
It has been almost two years since I read Book 3. The fact that I’ve had book 4 all this time and simply not read it was not a good sign. And, ultimately, I found this story ending to be strangely annoying, vaguely compelling and ultimately unsatisfying.
This book mostly follows young Snicket on his solo mission. He awakes in the middle of the night to see his chaperone S. Theodora Markson sneak out of their room. He follows her to a warehouse where she steals something and then to a train. She boards but he is unable to.
The train used to make stops in town but it no longer does and Snicket jumps on board at the only place he can think of). While he’s hanging on the outside of the train, Moxie drags him in through the window. That’s about the first third of the book. It was nice to have another character for him to talk to.
Then a murder happens (this is a pretty violent series for kids). And the blame is laid at the wrong person’s feet. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 