The Wonderland Singers And Accompaniment "Spooky Halloween" (Wonderland Records, LP-293, 1974)
In 1974 this collection was issued as “Halloween Songs That Tickle Your Funny Bone” through Michael Brent Productions (part of their children’s educational aid series), and apparently it was commercially viable enough that Wonderland records decided to license it for general release that same year. The material was written by professional songwriters Ruth Roberts & Bill Katz (“Meet the Mets”, the official tune of the New York Mets since 1963, numbers among their many accomplishments) along with Gene Piller, but the reissue’s new cover design found the credits changed to highlight the “Wonderland Singers and Accompaniment”. In the transition process Wonderland also dropped the “how-to” insert explaining the potential use of the songs in a classroom setting, then gave the album a somewhat altered running order which (due to the intro sound effect sequence being moved from “A Halloween Song” to “There Is A Haunted House In Town”) created a few slightly different edits.
Clearly aimed at a very young audience, you’ll find no real sense of menace or fright here at all — but there’s still a weird kind of sideways appeal. Personally I can remember that when I got my copy as a kid I was initially excited by the scary sounding intro, only to find myself wincing almost immediately once the friendly and well trained chorus of voices began to sing about the simple joys of Halloween. “I won’t be playing this very often”, I smirked. But for whatever reason — The comforting nature of the singers? The CleverSimplicity of the lyrics? The bizarre alternate universe the settings of the songs seemed to inhabit? — I did end up playing it often, and snippets from puh-LENTY of these numbers still get stuck in my head to this very day.
Well played, Roberts, Katz & Piller. Well played.
By the way, Michael Brent Productions is still going strong today and you can get the original sequencing of these songs on a CD (complete with a lyric book) here, along with lots of other great kids collections. Check it on out!
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Awesome. Listen to track 12, and you will hear the song another commenter had posted about earlier called “Halloween Friends.” The chorus is – “we are here to scare you who who who….”. The whole LP is great. It throws me back to so many music listening session at Halloween time in grade school. Thanks once again Jason.
Holy smokes! I had this record and had completely forgotten about it! Wow!
– Sky
Oh damn! Thank you ever so much! It reminds me of grade school too!
– “we are here to scare you” guy
Although I’ll add that I could have sworn that I saw a video of ghosts (casper-like ones, as I recall) singing the “we are here to scare you” chorus. It’s definitely the same song, but there was a video too. Weird! But again, thanks muchly!
Great great site! Love it.
I just wanted to say thanks for all these great albums. Without people like you, this stuff might be lost forever. It sure brings back memories of my childhood, growing up in the 60’s and 70’s when the classic monsters ruled and it was fun to be a kid! Thanks again for all your hard work and dedication to the blog and to us…
My thoughts exactly. As for me though I never knew most of these albums existed until I found Jason Scary Spooky Stories web pages. I’ve been on a hunt for them all ever since, but now with this blog we can just sit back, and wait to see which one is next. Thanks again Jason!!
Dave
For some reason the Halloween Friends song popped into my head this morning on the way to work. That was my favorite song back in first grade. Thanks for posting that! It was a kick to hear those songs again.
-Bobbie
Very cool indeed!
Do you happen to have the “Christmas Songs To Tickle Your Funnybone” album? I had tha one as a kid.
synthetrix ,
I just checked, and there are several of those LPs on sale on ebay right now.
Dave
I couldn’t resist. I got a copy of “Christmas Songs To Tickle Your Funnybone”. Haven’t given it a listen yet, but it looks interesting. I also got a near mint copy of “The Return Of The Red Baron” which contains the song “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron” that I used to have a 45 rpm of. I’ll have all of these available on my web page and blog eventually. Stay tuned.
Dave
I had this as a kid, and was thrilled to find the download. Thank you!
I just found the record in my dad’s basement. I remember my Ma played it while we decorated the house for Halloween. I cannot WAIT to hear the songs again. I am going to surprise my brothers with it! It is an especially great memory because our Mother passed away and now we can remember her this year while we all decorate our new homes!
These songs are a big part of my childhood during Halloween as The Great Pumpkin. I used to sing this album in music class every year in elementary school K – 6th.
Thanks for the info. I hadn’t heard these songs in 20 years.
Thank you SOOO much. I have been looking for MP3s of this album for a long time now. I can’t find the record from my childhood..but I’m so excited to pass these songs to my niece and nephew. : )
I grew up listening to the Christmas album they had and I would like to find it again. Does anyone know of a place I might be able to buy or download it? I would love to surprise my siblings with it!!
Even as a young kid (I was 11 or 1 when this came out, but I’m not specifying this release only) most of the Wonderland stuff seemed too juvenile even at that point. I would’ve preferred something like my Batman TV soundtrack LP at that point, most likely. Nevertheless, great to see this stuff circulating.