Why would anyone think Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf belonged in a Halloween list?!?!? Really? I mean, it does talk about a wolf, and they do wear some cool costumes, but come on! Halloween it ain't.
As I was weeding through the list, though, I found a connection between two songs that I thought deserved a closer look. Ghost Riders in the Sky and Riders on the Storm. I think I've always been aware of thematic and melodic similarities, but I didn't know they were deliberate; or just how interesting the songs were.
So, here goes. Let's start with the older song: (Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend. There are probably hundreds of versions out there: this one is Johnny Cash live at the Montreux festival in 1994. (His only appearance there.)
Alternately known as Riders in the Sky, Ghost Riders, Ghost Riders in the Sky, or A Cowboy Legend, this song was written in 1948 by Stan Jones. It has been recorded by such widely disparate artists as Lawrence Welk and The Tubes. (I'm amazed the computer doesn't start spewing smoke just having those two side-by-side like that!) There have been versions in German, Spanish, Portuguese, metal, merengue, surf-style, and (Get this!) Finnish melodic death metal or surf-punk-electro.
There have been alternate versions, like The Dirtiest Town in the West from "Sesame Street." Peter, Paul and Mary did a take-off called Yuppies in the Sky, which is a personal favorite; it was written by Tom Paxton, and that was his rendition: I couldn't find PP&M. Sigh.
And there is even a version "sung" (?!?!) by Christopher Lee, which may be the first professional recording I've heard that made me long for Autotune.
The original song tells the story of a cowboy who sees a vision in the sky of a herd of steel-hooved cattle. They are chased by the spirits of damned cowboys. One warns the viewer that if he doesn't change his ways, he too, will be doomed to join them, "Tryin' to catch the Devil's herd across these endless skies." (Sounds a little like the Celtic Wild Hunt to me, just from a cowpoke point of view.)
This song was also possibly the inspiration for the Marvel Comics character, Ghost Rider. But don't go jumping to the Nicolas Cage movie (at least, not yet). Before we think about that, we have to start at the very beginning. A very good place to start. (Ooops. Very much the wrong genre. Sorry)
Before we had Johnny Blaze, there was the cowboy version of Ghost Rider. His name was Carter Slade and through an unlikely series of incidents, he became the Ghost Rider, later called the Phantom Rider (but not until after Slade's death, so as not to be confused with Johnny Blaze, the biker with the flaming skull).
This character should not be confused with Carter Slade as portrayed by Sam Elliott in the Ghost Rider movie. They simply aren't the same. In the comics, Carter Slade wore a glowing white costume, full-face mask, cape and a white hat. Nothing like the skeleton wearing dusty cowboy clothes. (If you really want to know more, ask the Nameless Cynic, or even worse, my son, Chris. But don't plan on going anywhere for the next several days. The explanation will be very convoluted, and you'll never recover.)
Anyway, another voice that I always liked was Jim Morrison. (Cool segue, huh?) Deep, resonant, what a beautiful voice he had. Shame he, like Karen Carpenter, died so young. Morrison wrote the second of my two focus songs: "Riders on the Storm."
Apparently, as a young man, Morrison had hitchhiked across Florida on a regular basis to visit his girl-friend. He'd even having written a screenplay about a man who hitched around, killing people as he went.
And now for another awesome segue.
Morrison's plot sounds a lot like William Edward "Billy" Cook. (Why do killers always have several names? At least three names, and now four.) Cook was born in 1928. His mother died when he was five. Not long after, the father took Billy and his siblings to an abandoned mine, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Eventually, all were placed in foster homes, except Billy. His deformed eye and belligerent attitude kept him out of foster care. He became a ward of the state, and spent years in and out of trouble. He bought a gun and began hitching around. He'd force his victims to drive him around for hours, and then shoot them. At one point, he killed a family of five, and their dog. The cops found out who he was when he accidentally (?) left the receipt for his gun in one of the bloody cars.
(Nobody knows why he kept the receipt: maybe he was hoping for a tax deduction since he used it for his work.) It's no real surprise that he ended up on death row.
Cook's killing spree was turned into a movie, The Hitch-Hiker (1953), directed my Ida Lupino, and is generally considered to be the first film noir directed by a woman (if you ignore Norwegian director Edith Carlmar, who was making dark-themed movies as far back as 1949).
Anyway, back to The Doors. Riders on the Storm grew out of a jam session where they were playing Ghost Riders in the Sky. Morrison spoke his lyrics over his singing voice for an eerie effect to the finished recording. As Ray Manzarek put it, "That's the last thing he ever did. An ephemeral, whispered overdub."
So, now you know more than you ever wanted to about these two songs. Both definitely belong in a Halloween list. Oddly, I had to go to a German band, Dezperadoz, to find someone who'd done both songs: they began with a concept album to bring Wyatt Earp to life musically. (See? Another Halloween link! More costumes!) They're not really my cup of tea: Riders on the Storm is pretty much a cover with some interesting instrumentation, but Ghost Riders made my throat hurt even more than it already does. Ouch. Let me know if you find anyone else who's recorded both.
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