Wade Denning & Kay Lande "Halloween: Games, Songs and Stories" (Golden Records, LP-242, 1969)
Hands down this was my most played Halloween record as a little kid. My family can all still sing the title track (which rather brilliantly spells out "H-A-LL-O-W-EE-N" to the tune of Saint-Saëns' "Dance Macabre" (or "Danse Macabre" if you prefer). Listen to it once and you'll never forget it), and it's no real exaggeration to say that I nearly played "Guess What I Am?" 'til the grooves were bald.
Wade Denning's career in spooky records (primarily through Pickwick) has been fairly well documented on Scar Stuff before (click here, here & here for more info), and he's joined on this album by Kay Lande who had a pretty long running career with kids records herself (she and Denning had also worked together before on "ABC, 1-2-3: Counting Rhymes, Alphabet Songs, Riddles and Tongue Twisters" for MGM Records in 1966). The overall vibe here is pretty playful, upbeat and active (the original pressing was aimed at educators and came with a booklet outlining the games described in the songs), but there's also an undercurrent of creepiness that seems more tied in to childhood to me than with many Halloween records. By that I guess I mean that a lot of times the vignettes that are being told in this genre revolve around adults, and as a kid you had to visualize them more abstractly (6 year olds aren't likely to be driving around picking up hitchhikers for example), but on this record there are stories much more related to the age group they're being directed at; a child takes a shortcut through the woods on the way back from Trick-or-Treating and encounters a spook, there's an eerie telling of the James Whitcomb Riley classic Little Orphan Annie poem, and so on. Of course I don't know if that's the sole reason why this album clicked in my tiny head (I think I also just liked the '60's surf beat on a lot of the songs), but at the age of 5 it certainly all worked for me and (perhaps not so surprisingly) it really still does.
Link Removed, try going here though.
2011 Update
Direct YouTube link
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Psst! Visit the official Golden Records Facebook Page for a free download of the "Halloween" MP3! It's a "Limited Time Only" type deal so act fast!
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posted by Jason at 3/29/2006 07:27:00 PM
76 Comments:
You must have read my mind, I was just looking at a picture of this album.
I can't get enough of Halloween Dance, this is a fantastic album, thanks so much.
Dr. Terror
P.S. I got Witches' Brew and it IS the song from music class. My buddy is getting all day on his cell phone.
3/29/2006 11:31 PM
Little Orphant Annie!! My god, that poem gave me the worst creeps when I was a kid.
My Dad had a book from his childhood of a collection of Riley's children's poetry, and my Mom would read them to all us kiddies. Since we were all a bit creepy we requested Little Orphant Annie (don't forget the T) over and over. What made it all the creepier was that the illustrations in the book were entirely all silhouettes -- stark, black, shadowy, images of kids and stuff. Brrrrrr! Gives me the willies just thinking about it.
Mr. Miller here wants to thank you for sharing this fantastic LP with us all. I've never heard an audio version of this particular poem before, so it's been a big treat.
3/30/2006 7:17 AM
Totally awesome agan Jason. Thanks.
Dr. T by Withces' Brew do you mean the Hap Palmer LP? I just got thta one too, but haven't received it yet.
3/30/2006 1:36 PM
what a cool blog!
3/30/2006 5:09 PM
YES! I remember the H-A-Double-L-O-Double-U-Double-E-N song! I heard it in first grade and haven't gotten it out of my mind since, but had no clue who did it.
Thanks!
6/29/2006 5:02 PM
Oh yeah - and my mom made me a floppy hand-made clown outfit even though I would have preferred one of those cheezy over priced vinyl costumes with the cheap plastic mask.
She also ransacked my goodies for chocolate because ... hey, it could be dangerous! Now I do that to my kids... mua ha haaa.
6/29/2006 5:06 PM
Can anyone please recite all the lyrics to the "H A LL O W EE N" song ? I remember the track too as a kid and am dying to live it again. ???anyone???
8/31/2006 9:22 PM
P.S. Or if anyone out there has an Mp3 or 2 of these song maybe could email them to me @:
EricDavis621@Aim.Com
8/31/2006 9:24 PM
It might not actually be obvious from the post, but you can download the entire album if you just click on the cover. It'll be mp3s in a zip file. hope it works out, and enjoy!
8/31/2006 9:53 PM
This is just terrific!!!!! I have been searching for YEARS for the Halloween song...Thank you so much for this little gem. I could only remember the second verse - heck, that's pretty good since it has been 28 years since I heard it last - but never have I gotten it out of my head. Thank you again!
9/04/2006 12:30 PM
You seriously saved my sanity by posting the halloween song. It's been rolling around in my brain since like 3rd grade. I remember my old music teacher (who seemed to have one foot in the grade then) used to play it, and it was by far my favorite song.
THANK YOU!!!!
9/10/2006 11:06 PM
This is awesome and all I've been able to think about for a week now. Thanks for posting it and making it available. My students will carry on the traditions.
Do you have recommendations for other songs from your childhood?
9/16/2006 6:35 PM
Thanks so much!! I remember the "H-A-LL-O-W-EE-N" song from grade school music class. It was my favorite song to sing every October. I have a dialup connection (I know, I know!) and it would take me 5 hours to download the album. Is there any way someone can send an mp3 of just that one song? I'd be soooo grateful! Please e-mail me at Kelly8915@aol.com
9/25/2006 2:17 PM
OMG....I remeber this song so well...I heard it at a Halloween party I attended in the..ummm...3rd grade...jesus..that was...14 years ago....and I still remembered some of the lyrics...WOW!!! H-A-DOUBL-L-O-W-DOUBL-E-N spells Halloween...lol..memories!
10/05/2006 11:21 AM
I love this record and have used it in my classrooms for over 20 years...along with Fun in Fall. Unfortunately it got broken a few years ago. I have a tape that has gotten very worn over the years. Is there anyway I can buy this album? My email is amorgratia@earthlink.net.Someone out there...where can I get this fantastic music!
10/09/2006 5:24 PM
Sharon: just click on the record jacket (or the text link below it) & the entire album will download as MP3 files (within a zip archive). If that doesn't make sense just hit me up & I can explain it to you.
10/09/2006 6:17 PM
The nursury school I went to had this LP, used to listen to it repeatedly.
It rolls around in my head from time to time, but I never knew what it was.
And now I have it. Thank you so much!
10/16/2006 7:28 PM
My mother use to play "Pass the witches broomstick" to the song on this album when I and my siblings were young! I was searching for this and thank you so much for posting it and allowing us to download it. Now I will share it with the children I teach!
10/17/2006 6:13 AM
Every year when I was little we would get this album from the library around Halloween and my sister, mom and I would dance around the house singing these songs. I haven't heard them in nearly 25 years and am so happy to have found this...thank you so much for posting the album! It's suprising how I remember nearly every word; we obviously listened to this a LOT! You've made me very happy!
10/17/2006 6:45 PM
Kelly.. I have dial-up too and have been downloading these at my job, because at home it takes 4 1/2 hours to download an album (if net zero doesn't cut out, which it usually does) at work it's between 2 to 4 minutes on broadband and if you have a thumb-drive your set to go, you can load up to 2 albums on that, at least!!! Thank-you Jason for all the great albums!!!
10/19/2006 6:23 AM
Well, it's official... this album has all-ages, timeless appeal. I've been playing it in the car for my 4 year old & my 9 year old, on the school drive every morning. They both love it! I think they like the 'guess what I am' song the best-- my 4 year old sings along, and my 9 year old always dramatically gives the answer to each 'guess'. THANKS!!
10/19/2006 5:58 PM
Thank you so much. I was trying to sing it for my Persian boyfriend, but he just wasn't appreciating my version. I can't wait to play it over and over again like I did as a kid!
Happy H-A-L-L-W-E-E-N!
10/26/2006 9:46 AM
Thank you soooo much! These songs bring back so many memories. My second grade teacher would dress-up as the various characters from "guess what i am" and scare everyone during the halloween season. this is amazing, i can't wait to send the link to my friends.
10/28/2006 10:56 PM
I have been wondering what this album was for years. I'm so happy to have it again! Thanks!
10/31/2006 11:35 PM
I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS FOREVER, but I can't get it to download, is it no longer available or is there a way you could hook me up with the classic Halloween:Games, Songs, & Stories!
Thanks!
11/26/2006 1:11 AM
Oh yeah, please let me know at the following email:
apaxtonebay@yahoo.com!
11/26/2006 1:12 AM
Anyone know how come the link to the album doesn't work anymore? ats1025@yahoo
12/26/2006 3:05 PM
Is there any way you could post the recording of this album again The link is no longer active and I cannot find it ANYWHERE on Amazon, ebay, etc.
I really, really need to hear if this recording of "Little Orphant Annie" is the one my parents used to play for us when we were kids. I thought it was on a Cathy Fink album, but this is the only link on the internet that mentions this poem being read on a kid's album.
Thanks alot for finding this. THis is an extremely cool blog.
3/04/2007 12:02 AM
Please Please Please make this link work again. I am trying to figure out if the reading of "Little Orphant Annie" is the one I remember my parents playing us when we were little. I can't find this album anywhere on the web, so if you could please reactivate this link or someone out there FTP a file to me that would be so great. Newhowl@yahoo.com
3/05/2007 3:25 PM
Does anybody have this album I can download? I have bene searching everywhere and cant find it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you have it can you send it to me ... Ltd152@aol.com
5/15/2007 8:07 AM
Is there a reason why this link no longer works? I've been wanting to make a CD of it for my sister's birthday, because she grew up singing the Halloween song but can no longer find it. Please (just like the other posters asked) if you have this, please send it to me. I'll be very appreciative! By the way, thanks for at least having this blog available. I wouldn't have gotten this far tracking down the song without it! mackadoo@hotmail.com
5/21/2007 11:53 AM
I too have fond memories of this album (the weird happening scared our kindergarten class stiff)...I would love to access the MP3s. Please advise...Thanks for the great blog!
sheapard@gmail.com
5/25/2007 11:10 PM
Hi--Your link doesn't appear to be working--or is it just me? i've tried several computers. Am dying to hear these songs (even though I could remember most of them by if I tried).
6/07/2007 12:09 PM
Hi, your link to the Halloween album no longer works and I NEED it. Can you help?
Thanks
Steve
7/06/2007 8:03 AM
Hiya,
Does anyone have the mp3 for the song called "Spookanani"?
It's a song about a cat, and the chorus is something like:
"Ghosts and goblins dancing all around
Spook spook spook spookanani
All the little goblins in town."
Thanks!
7/24/2007 11:56 AM
Go to http://davesworld56.blogspot.com/. After searching and searching, finally found links that worked. Apparently, the link on this page became unavailable after August 2006, but the links on this other page all work fine!
8/31/2007 9:34 AM
first off, thank you for posting this!!!!
secondly, the link/s work fine for me...
once again, thanks!!!
9/19/2007 10:27 AM
I, also, was blown away to run across this blog. I was so happy when finding it I searched ebay and found an original LP. Needless to say, I scooped it up right away. Haven't heard this stuff since I was 8 or 9 (32 now) and I can say without doubt, I've sung H-A-Double L-O-W-Double E-N every year since. Thanks so much!
10/01/2007 8:46 AM
God Bless You for making this available. I have been seeking it for years!!!!!!!!!!
10/02/2007 1:43 PM
Hi there. I downloaded the album off of the link for Denning & Lande but the file comes up as corrupted........ Does anyone have a good copy of this album? I especially want to hear that song "H-A-DOUBLE L-O-W-DOUBLE E-N Spells Halloween!" It was a favorite in elementary music class.....I have kids now and it's driving me crazy because I can't even SING it to them because I don't remember the words!! ha ha!! You can email me at Catmandu97@aol.com if you have it....thanks!!
10/10/2007 12:00 PM
Hi again. I had trouble downloading from this website, so I went to Mostly Ghostly as someone else suggested......or is it called scar stuff?.... in either case, I can't seem to download anything. What is Sharebee.com and do I need it? Is it something you buy? Geez, can't we just get this album anywhere else? Thanks for any help.
Catmandu97@aol.com
10/10/2007 3:17 PM
THANK YOU!!THANK YOU!!!THANK YOU!!! I have been looking for the H-A-LL-O-W-EE-N song forever!! I've been asking everyone I know and no one knew what song I was talking about!! I remember it from music class in elementary school - it was always my favorite!! Thanks again!!
10/19/2007 1:09 PM
You are seriously my hero...I haven't heard this song since maybe the third grade (when it was on vinyl), and I've been looking for it for ages. Thank you SO MUCH!!
10/21/2007 6:58 AM
Me and my coworkers have been looking for this song everywhere with no luck! we always sing it, i mean, it taught us all how to spell halloween,(i still sing it every time i write the word out) but hadn't heard it since elementary school...THANK YOU SO MUCH. you made my halloween.
10/27/2007 3:30 PM
Does anyone know of a children's book that can go with HA double l o w double e n spells Hallweens?
10/29/2007 5:22 PM
THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you!!!!! I've been looking for this for over 20 years!!!!!
10/29/2007 5:52 PM
when i download the zip file and open it, it says it is corrupted. has anyone had recent success with this?
11/02/2007 7:14 PM
Hey all, Joel here again. Can someone email me the mp3's at the following:
run_n_fool at hotmail dot com?
I still can't get the zip file to work and I'm desperate for these songs.
thanks!
11/03/2007 12:02 PM
I have been a music teacher for 32 years and have used this record every Halloween. Needless to say it is a bit worn out. Is it possible to purchase this somewhere? Have they made this into a CD yet?
1/10/2008 6:38 AM
This is fantastic! Thanks for posting this blog! My friends and I always looked forward to Halloween in elementary school and this brings back so many memories! I can't wait to show my best friend who visits on Saturday. Thanks again so much!!
2/28/2008 9:11 PM
In case no one has noticed yet form the last few comments Jason has re-posted all of his links now. I hope you all are able to get a download of this great LP.
Dave
3/20/2008 12:45 PM
I LOVED this album as a kid. It got ruined when my parents moved when I was in college. Thank you!
3/24/2008 5:55 PM
So close to finally getting to hear this album again, but the files are all gone from the hosting links. Rats.
At least now I finally know what it's called -- Thanks!
7/01/2008 7:21 AM
I cannot tell you how excited I was when my sister sent me the link to your site. We both loved this album so much and have been looking for it for our children for years. Does anyone know how I can get a copy. I tried to download but the file is no longer there. Thanks!
9/22/2008 11:54 AM
Whoo! Hoo! So glad to hear these songs again. My wife knows all the words just from me singing it over the years.
Downloaded fine for me.
9/22/2008 10:50 PM
help! i'm trying to download this and can't. my sister and i often talk about a couple of the halloween albums we love. i am so excited i hope i can get a download and share it with her.
Jesica
2/16/2009 3:12 PM
This album was an annual event every October in my elementary school music classes. Jan Peterson of Lakeview School, Grayslake School District #46, would spin this album and also have us recite the tunes as she had printed out sheet music to a few of the better tracks. It was all seminal in my current reveration of the Halloween holiday!
9/21/2009 10:27 AM
the links no longer work for me, please if someone could provide me with a link to d/l this great childrens classic my wife had it and it got broke she owns a daycare and it has sorta become a tradition for this to be played for halloween. plz someone help you can contact me @ ronniestivers@gmail.com
9/23/2009 4:58 PM
I know this is a pretty old post, but this song gets stuck in my head every year since i was in 4 year old kindergarten! Unfortunately none of the links on here have worked for me, does anyone know how to make the links work again??? Please let me know Angelnstuff@yahoo.com Thanks! Also, thanks to everyone on here, for being just as stuck on this song as i was, most people i know either never heard it or don't remember so they prolly think I'm crazy for singing it all of September and October!
9/26/2009 3:08 AM
I found it!!! I kept looking after i posted on here and after an hour or so i finally found a link that worked! http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JY9WKB51
Hope it works for all of you as well, Happy Halloween!
9/26/2009 4:19 AM
Please I need this album......please hit me up!! craftmakertony@comcast.net
thank you so much!!!!
10/11/2009 7:53 PM
Heya everyone, as of Oct 2009 this was a working link (on a great blog!): http://goodnightwhateveryouare.blogspot.com/2009/09/wade-denning-sounds-of-terror-1974.html
Enjoy & Happy Halloween!
10/12/2009 6:26 PM
Yeah, this was our family's favorite as well. We had a special connection to it. Two of our cousins were in the cast of kids who sang in it. You can hear their pronounced New York accents as they narrate the devil costume in "Guess what I am" and other 15 seconds of fame moments.
1/07/2010 3:36 PM
I remember this very well when I was in First Grade back in 1975. Our Class did a Halloween Play and I played the witch and we had a great time doing the play to this album. I wondered where this song went to after all those years. I just never expected to even find it on the internet.
2/14/2010 7:03 PM
Halloween is always loved by one and all it is quite fun for us to celebrate the halloween and wear super heroes costumes like superman, batman,SpiderMan my family and i celebrate with great joy
4/28/2010 1:38 AM
I’m desperately searching for a vintage children’s LP called “Fun in Fall”. The songs all pertained to autumn and the fall season. I loved this album when I was a kid and I’d really like to find a copy of it.
10/20/2010 1:35 PM
Thank you for posting this. My mom and I were just reminiscing about this album, but neither of us could remember who did it! Joyous memories have made this dreary October day bright :)
10/27/2010 7:29 AM
Have a question that can only be answered here, most likely. I just purchased a vinyl copy of "Halloween: Games, Songs and Stories". The cover of my LP is not just black/yellow, like the one pictured here. As you can see in the link below it's fully colorized. At first, I thought that a child colored all over the cover but I don't think that's the case, when taking a close look at this photo. I still don't have the LP. I just ordered it. So does anyone know of a colorized version of this album cover (besides the Black/Yellow one). Thank you for your time. BTW, this is the greatest blog ever created. The info is precious.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=180592881044&si=5IEDyW6sO%252BiPPQg1XRoB7Jho5Cs%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=ADME%3AL%3AOU%3AUS%3A1123
1/21/2011 4:26 PM
I only remember the fully colorized version myself. The big colors were black and yellow, but there were crayon colors as well, like some kid had colored it. So I think the cover you saw on line was somehow less than perfect.
1/21/2011 5:44 PM
Thank you for the quick reply CC. If you were to copy/paste the link that I posted, I think that you'd come to discover that we're describing the same cover. :) You're right, the back drop is Black/Yellow but then the characters look as though a child colored them. My post was a little confusing, sorry. I guess the question should be which cover is more rare the Black/Yellow one or the Black/Yellow with colored figures? :)
1/22/2011 3:37 PM
I a not a expert, but the cover you link to is the original cover as I remember it. If they did another cover with different colors, I'm unaware of it (but if they did, it was a reprint, so the original is better for obvious reasons). I suspect any variation you saw in color was just caused by a poor scan or scanner.
1/22/2011 3:41 PM
Heya Ryan, thanks for the kind words about the blog!
Both versions of the cover are out there for sure and as best as I can tell there were a few editions of this LP, with the full color "Wonderland/ Golden Records/AA" edition being a bit more common.
I have two guesses around the variation here:
My first guess is that the color version was a later pressing after the record had been picked up by the larger Golden Records label, with the initial edition being a private press LP made by Kay Lande & Wade Denning themselves.
The copy I made my rip from (which is also the jpg I show in my scan, and which now frequently turns up elsewhere when people share the LP, the black/yellow cover) was actually on the "Den-Lan Music Co." label out of Port Washington, NY. The physical label on the LP has a hand written copyright year of 1969 (the rest of the label is printed), and the back cover depicts black & white graphics showing "Other Books & Records by Kay Lande and Wade Denning" including a "teachers guide" style book featuring the songs & games on the Halloween LP, as well as other titles including "Fun Indoors", "Fun in Fall" & "Fun in Spring"
This black & yellow "Den-Lan" version is the copy that I picked up later in life, but the one that I had as a child (and that my library in Lawrence, KS stocked in the early 70's, which is where I first heard it) was the Wonderland/ Golden Records/AA full cover version.
So my guess is that the design was always intended to be in full color, but in the interest of cutting costs with the initial pressing, the black &yellow cover was used.
Now another possible scenario could be that the two labels carved out different markets (school supply sales vs mainstream sales for example) & the variations in label & cover can be accounted for that way.
To give some credence to this notion, another example of a Wonderland/ Golden Records/AA pick up is the "Spooky Halloween" LP (full cover cover), the songs of which also show up on the "Michael Brent" label (out of Port Chester, NY -- heh, not that far away from Port Washington) under the title "Halloween Songs that Tickle Your Funny Bone". The Michael Brent edition of that LP has a different track order, a black & orange cover, and includes a music & lyrics booklet. Both editions in this case share a 1974 copyright date, which might add some weight to the "alternate market" explanation for some of these kinds of titles.
So there you go -- I dunno if this will really answer your question completely, but does point up some typical patterns around variations in pressings and labels when it comes to the children's record scene of the late 60's & early 70's.
1/22/2011 4:06 PM
That all makes perfect sense. Thank you so much for you time. You really cleared things up. Because I have only seen the Black/Yellow cover (thanks to you :) I thought that the colored characters were unusual when it's actually the other way around. Hand written copyright!? That's wild. If I ever see that edition, I'll most likely grab that one too. Scar Stuff has really given me the collector's bug for the past couple of years. Thanks again. BTW, I did see the Black/Yellow edition on ebay once but it was $70 bucks and at the time I thought that was a bit high. Now I wish that I had grabbed it. :)
1/22/2011 4:51 PM
aww, the link for the full album doesn't work anymore. I'm so disappointed :'(
10/29/2011 8:22 PM
can you repost the Halloween Album? i'm looking for the "story" with the one eyed monster...................and the one big eye just blinked........is this on the same album?
10/31/2011 7:29 PM
Our music teacher in elementary school (1990s) played the title track for us and had us sing it. The words were printed in a book and we sang along. I remembered it my whole life and finally discovered the entire album as an adult. It's a fun, memorable album that's also an introduction into classical music as a few of the tracks' melodies come from orchestral songs. The first time I heard Danse Macabre I said to myself, "Wait! I KNOW that!"
10/26/2016 9:51 AM
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