It’s been given to me to find a couple of songs for Halloween that the kids can at least learn the chorus to. We’ve done the OO EE OO AA AA witch doctor song four years in a row.
Any suggestions, and places I might find/download said songs?
Thanks!
I think you’re in a bit of a jam. Halloween doesn’t have any songs, really. Some that have been written about the holiday, but none that people sing, like they would for Christmas.
However, some people are trying to make some up:
Yeah, Halloween is not a “let’s sing songs” holiday.
How about replacing the song singing with story-telling? You can make it a rhythmic exercise where every time you say something the kids all make the same sort of sound.
Teacher: And then the black phantom…
Children: Raaahh! Raaahh!
Teacher: … flew up through the window. The boys could see the white of the round full moon…
Children: Awooo!
Teacher: shining into the room. Suddenly they heard a loud banging on the door!
Children: (beat a piede of wood with a stick)
Something of that sort. Make it musical, but not sing-songy.
Doing my own little Net search. A lot of songs here, but most are not appropriate for teaching. You can check them out.
[quote]I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash
From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf Man
Dracula and his son
The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, “The Crypt-Kicker Five”
They played the mash
They played the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They played the mash
It caught on in a flash
They played the mash
They played the monster mash
Out from his coffin, Drac’s voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist
And said, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?”
It’s now the mash
It’s now the monster mash
The monster mash
And it’s a graveyard smash
It’s now the mash
It’s caught on in a flash
It’s now the mash
It’s now the monster mash
Now everything’s cool, Drac’s a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash
The monster mash
And do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash
You’ll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash [/quote]
How can you go wrong with the monster mash? Otherwise try pumpkin songs.
Ones I’ve used in the past with 2.5-3 year olds…
(to the tune of Ten Little Indians)
One little, two little, three little witches
Flew over haystacks, flew over bridges
Flew over moonbeams without any hitches
Hey, ho, Halloween’s here
One little, two little, three little witches
Flew too low and tore their britches
Went back home and put in stitches
Hey, ho, Halloween’s here
(to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot)
I’m a little pumpkin
nice and round
I grow big and fat on the ground
Soon I’ll turn bright orange and then I’ll be
a Jack o’ Lantern for Halloween
(to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star…borrowed from a Scholastics Teacher’s Resource book - Sing-Along Emergent Reader Mini-Books)
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the vine
How I wish that you were mine
I’d take you home,
carve a face
Put you in a special place
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the vine
At Halloween I’ll make you mine
Thanks, these are all great! 
Great suggestions, especially the “Monster Mash” and all of ImaniOU’s songs.
The level is a bit higher, but “The Haunted House of Rock” by Whodini might be good for older students, especially those interested in hip-hop.
I forgot about the best one…a fingerplay.
Five little pumpkins (hold up five fingers) sitting on a gate
First one (shake index finger) said, “Oh my! It’s getting late!” (hands on cheek and look upset)
The second one (shake two fingers) said, “There’s a chill in the air!” (rub arms as if cold)
The third one (three fingers) said, “But we don’t care” (shake index as if to say no)
The fourth one (four fingers) said, “Let’s run and run and run!” (pretend to run in place)
The fifth one (five fingers) said, “It’s Halloween fun!” (throw hands up in the air and shake them)
Then Oo-oo-oo went the wind (wave arms and wiggle fingers) and out went the light (close fingers and pull back arms), and the five little pumpkins rolled (roll arms one over the other) out of sight.
and (to The Itsy Bitsy Spider)
A very scary monster is crawling in my hair
Closer and closer and I’m getting scared
I can feel his breath now getting very near
“Happy Halloween,” he whispers in my ear
One I just made up just now… (to Skinnamarink)
Halloweeny dinky dink Halloweeny BOO!
Did I scare you?
Halloweeny dinky dink, Halloweeny YAY!
It’s Halloween today!
We go out trick or treating
On Halloween night
Dressed up in our costumes
Gives us such a fright
Halloweeny dinky dink Halloweeny BOO!
Happy Halloween to you! (repeat three times)
Happy Hallowee-en to you, too…boop boop-be-doo…
BOO!
(forgive me if the lyrics suck a bit, but the kids will love the nonsense words…the original was such a hit with my little ones last year that we sang it for Mother’s Day and they still sing it now)
For that matter, with older ones, e.g. high school kids, will love Will Smith’s (in his DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince days) Nightmare on My Street from the album Parents Just Don’t Understand. Introduce them to the storyline behind Nightmare on Elm Street and include a picture of Freddy Kreuger and then do whatever activities you want (cloze, listening comprehension, recitation, etc). You might need to explain some of the slang as well…extra fun for them. Tell them that this song was done by Will Smith when he was only 19 or 20 years old.
Now I have a story that I’d like to tell
About this guy, you all know me I was scared as hell
He comes to me at night when I crawl into bed
He’s burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred
He wears the same hat and sweater every single day
And even if it’s hot outside, he wears it anyway!
He’s gone when I’m awake, but he shows up when I sleep
I can’t believe that there’s a nightmare, on my street!
It was a Saturday evening if I remember it right
And we had just gotten back off of tour last night
So the gang and I thought that it would be groovy
If we summoned up the posse and bumrushed the movie
I got Angie, Jeff got Tina
Ready Rock got some girl I’ve never seen in my life
That was alright though, ‘cuz lady was chill
Then we dipped to the theatre set to ill
Buggin’ , cold havin’ a ball
And somethin’ ‘bout Elm Street was the movie we saw
The way it started was decent
You know, nothin’ real fancy
About this homeboy named Fred
And this girl named Nancy
But, word! When it was over, I said, “Yo, that was def!”
And everything seemed alright when we left
But when I got home and laid down to sleep
That began the nightmare, on my street!
It was burnin’ in my room like an oven
My bed soaked with sweat, and man, I was buggin’
I checked the clock, and it had stopped at 12:30
It had melted it was so darn hot, and I was thirsty
I wanted something cool to quench my thirst
I thought to myself, Yo! This heat is the worst!
But when I got downstairs, I noticed something was wrong
I was home all alone, but the TV was on.
I thought nothin’ of it as I grabbed the remote
I pushed the power button, and I then almost choked
When I heard this aweful voice comin’ from behind, it said
“You are my favorite rapper, but now you must die!” (?)
Man, I ain’t even wait to see who it was
Broke inside my drawers and screamed, “So long 'cuz!”
Got halfway up the block, I calmed down and stopped screamin’
And thought, Oh, I get it, I must be dreamin’
I strolled back home with a grin on my grill
I figured since this is a dream, I might as well get ill
I walked in the house, the big, bad, Fresh Prince
But Freddy killed all that noise real quick
He grabbed me by my neck and said,
“Here’s what we’ll do. We’ve got a lotta work here, me and you,
The souls of your friends, you and I will claim.
You’ve got the body, and I’ve got the brains.”
I said, “Yo, Fred. I think you’ve got me all wrong.
I ain’t parnters with nobody with nails that long.
Look, I’ll be honest man, this team won’t work
The girls won’t be on you, Fred, your face is all burnt”
Fred got mad and his head started steamin’
But I thought what the hell, I’m only dreamin’
I said, “Please leave Fred, so I can get some sleep.
But gimme a call, and maybe we’ll hang out next week.”
I pat him on the shoulder, say, “Thanks for stoppin’ by.”
Then I opened up the door and said, “Take care, guy!”
He got mad, threw back his arm, and slashed my shirt
I laughed at first, then thought, Hold up…that hurt.
It wasn’t a dream, man, this guy was for real
I said, “Freddy, uh, uh, there’s been an awful mistake here.”
No further words, and then I darted upstairs
Crashed through my door then jumped on my bed
Pulled the covers up over my head and said,
“Oh please, do somethin’ with Fred!”
He jumped on my bed, ripped threw the covers with his claws
Tried to get me…but my alarm went off. and then
Silence
It was a whole new day, I thought.
Heh…I wasn’t scared of him, anyway.
Until I noticed those rips in my sheets
And that was proof that there had been a nightmare, on my
street.
Oh man, I gotta call Jeff, I gotta call Jeff
C’mon, c’mon…
C’mon Jeff, answer!
C’mon man
Jeff: Hello…
Prince: Jeff, it’s Prince man, Jeff, wake up Jeff, wake up!
Jeff: What do you want?!
Prince: Jeff, wake up, man. Listen to me. Jeff
Jeff: It’s 3 O’clock in the morning, what do you want?
Prince: Jeff, listen, Jeff, would you listen to me? Whatever you
do, don’t
fall asleep.
Jeff: Man!
Prince: Jeff…listen to me. Don’t go to sleep
Jeff: Look, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, I’m goin’ to bed
AGHH…AGHHH
Prince: Jeff! Jeff! …Jeff, answer me, Jeff!
Freddy: I’m your D.J. now, Princy…HA HA HA
Last year, I wrote this story (with a little plagerism, actually a lot). It is quite easy reading all simple past. Then I wrote it into a song using the melody from “The Long Black Vale” by Mick Jagger.
The Women in a Gray Dress
Twenty years ago in Hsyni a very strange thing happened. Two teenage boys were working in a Seven-eleven store when a woman wearing a gray dress came into the store and took a carton of milk from the refrigerator. She walked out of the store and didn
You could write your own song. Include topics such as vandalism, egging principals’ houses and police cars, stealing pumpkins and smashing them all over the street, stealing smaller kids’ candy, and razor blades in apples.