When I was a kid, I loved the Vampira-Dracula horror duets in "Spike Jones in Stereo," featuring my idol Paul Frees, and Loulie Jean Norman. Did I think one day I'd have a ghoul-friend singing with me on my own novelty horror song?? Nope.
Novelty hits that actually made the Top 20 included "Tell Laura I Love Her," "I Want My Baby Back" and "Teen Angel," among many other "teen tragedy numbers."
Fast forward several decades, and I was inspired to pay tribute to these morbid ditties, via "The Monkey's Paw," which also incorporated just about everyone's favorite late-night horror story, told around a campfire or an overnight in somebody's spooky house.
I tossed in a few lyrical salutes (most obviously, the line "I want my baby back...")
Oh baby...
Susan Davies, having heard some of my other novelty songs, agreed to sing with me, so I took the the 3-track (she was going to be on the 4th track) over so she could add the voice of the undead girl.
She nailed it on the first try, I think. After we were done, we listened to it back, and we agreed it was pretty good. "Something's missing," I said. "It needs a punchline." I thought a minute, hit the switch and the microphone, and added, "I never knew there'd be wife after death."
Susan was startled that I came up with that so quickly. It was just what the song needed...but most of all, it needed and had Susan.
I played it for a record executive, who said, "She really sounds like she's from the grave!"
I smiled. Yes, that's why I wanted her. I'd heard one of her more dire songs, one that had a lot of anguish on it, and I knew that she could turn that tragedy into comedy, just by playing it straight.
Screaming...er, streaming on YouTube:
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