The Son of Halloween Music Trivia

 

Since I had most of this laid out last year, returning was inevitable.
 
I’ll try to keep the random and extensive unrelated trivia out of the question write ups this time, but I probably won’t be able to control myself. 

[Later edit- Guess what? I couldn’t control myself.] 

This year has a decidedly Rock and Roll theme- must be my upbringing. Oh, speaking of upbringing- while I do have an unhealthy knowledge of monsters and novelty music, and think of the basic questions and answers on my own, I usually end up learning extra weird facts when I look songs up to confirm dates, which then lessens the ability to control myself. These end up adding to the trivia piles, bonus answer details or hints. 

 
Sticking with one point for each answer makes the most sense, as if anyone cares. 

As always, the links in the answers will go to places to hear the songs or see other appropriate video clips like trailers, scenes or commercials. They may disappear over time. The links in the questions are not song links, just me being a shameless self promotion whore for previous posts again.
 

Question 1-
Dave Edmunds had a hit in 1979 with “Queen of Hearts” and several other hits along the way. His biggest was 1970’s “I Hear You Knocking.” That year he also released a song that was decidedly less of a hit, celebrating the final Monster of the main Universal Monsters canon. Perhaps it was not a hit because it was 16 years after that movie premiered and 14 years after that monster’s final appearance. What’s the title of both the film and the song?
Bonus question 1- One of the two actors who played this final Universal Monster, Ricou Browning, was also the final living Universal Monster actor until he passed away a couple of years ago. Knowing where this monster made his home would be a strong hint as to what role Browning played behind the scenes in the James Bond franchise, in both Thunderball and its far less well done, and made out of spite, remake Never Say Never Again. What was it?
 
 
 
Question 2-
Poet Rod McKuen wrote over 1500 songs on 200 albums. His very first novelty song, in 1959, was about a famous undead creature with multiple Universal (and other studios) films. In that number he, credited only as “Dor,”  played an unphased beatnik encountering the monster. What was the song?
Bonus Question 2a-  The monster was portrayed by voice actor Bob McFadden, known for performing roles in  Rankin Bass specials (Including Jingle Bells in Year Without a Santa Claus) and Thundercats (Snarf.) To keep with the Halloween theme, he also voiced a pink, "cereal killer," monster in commercials. Who was it?
Bonus Question 2b- The back up band for this song (with an outer space inspired name to line up with the singer they usually worked with) had the number one single for a while in the happy days of 1954. Who were they?
 
 
 
Question 3- 

Frank Zappa had a song in 1973 about a Hybrid of an undead and a lycanthrope. (Or perhaps just about a bad hangover.) The vocals are a combination of Frank  Zappa’s controlled bass and Ricky Lancelotti’s screaming like a nut. The lyrics have an insane series of rhymes for the title including- Hoof, Aloof, Roof and improbably Truth (Troof).  What is the song?
Bonus Question 3- The back up singers for the album were the back up of a famous husband and wife duo, including the wife on this song. The husband was an absolute horror, demanding the women got no credit on the album, and that they got paid only $25 a song, far below what they, or anyone, was worth. Frank paid them $25 an hour… possibly helped by the husband calling Zappa’s awesome guitar riffs, “excrement.” The wife finally got away from  her husband. His legacy is being known the world over as an abusive jerk. Her legacy is being known as no less than the “Queen of Rock and Roll.” Who were these women?

 
 
 
Question 4- 

The Sixties were certainly a great time for supernatural shows on television. Two of the biggest ran from 1964 to 1966, both in black and white. Almost twenty years later in 1983 the child star of one of those shows recorded a song “What Ever Happened to *character name*” as an attempt to pitch a series like The Monkees, a few years before that series enjoyed a resurgence on Mtv, and back in the wild and fun days when video makers were trying to figure out what do with themselves. On the show, he would be part of a band one of his other family members created. What’s the characters name, which finishes the song title? Knowing that reveals the series. Bonus point for knowing the actor’s name.
Bonus 4- Since I’m big on Books To OpenYour Mind, and classic animation: In 1970 that child actor played the lead in a film that mixed live action (a bit at the start and end) with animation. It was written, produced and directed by the man who, in my opinion, understood comic timing better than anyone in history- Chuck Jones. The movie was based on a 1961 book highlighting the importance of imagination, non conformity and education in both the mathematical and linguistic side. The book was written by Brooklyn's Norton Juster (also did The Dot and the Line) and drawn by The Bronx’s Jules Feiffer (novelist, playwright, screen writer, cartoonist) in 1961. What is the title?
 
 
 
Question 5- 

To finish, here's one with multiple personal connections. American Werewolf in London (1981) was the movie that triggered the firing up of the very strong horror movie genes that run in my family when a friend invited me over to see it because of the comedy elements. I maintain it is the greatest of the werewolf films, and usually watch it at least once a year. I also maintain it is criminal that there has never been a release of the soundtrack as it has a fantastic Elmer Bernstein score and the greatest collection of "Lunar" rock ‘n’ roll songs ever assembled. That list includes multiple versions of  one song, including versions by Bobby Vinton, Sam Cooke, and The Marcels. In another “I maintain”s, I maintain that the transition to the Marcels' version of that song over the closing credits is the greatest over the top mood swing in movie history. What is that song?
Bonus 5- Another personal connection. Early on in this story, David and Jack find themselves discussing how much warmer and drier Italy (their alternate destination, and the one Jack wanted to go to) is this time of year when compared the soggy and chilly Moors of northern England they are in. They break into a decidedly not rock and roll performance together. What is the operatic tune, first written in 1849, that I have been known to belt out when caught in a rain storm, usually followed by quoting David's- “It’s-a cold and a-wet out heah!”? 

 
 
Spoiler space for answers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Answer 1-
The song and film was the awesomely catchy “Creature from the Black Lagoo-oon.”
Bonus 1- Ricou Browning was the second unit director/ stunt coordinator for the underwater SCUBA scenes in both films.
 
 
Answer 2-
Bob McFadden and Dor performed “I'm a Mummy.” What I didn’t know is it came off of an entire album McKuen wrote! Songs Our Mummy Taught Us. Gotta find that!
Bonus 2a- Bob McFadden was the original Franken Berry in the General Mills Monster Cereal commercials.
Bonus 2b- The band was “The Comets” as in “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” Bill Haley and His Comets.
 
  
Answer 3- 

From the album Over-Nite Sensation, the blend of a zombie and a werewolf, reetie all righty is a “Zomby Woof.” 

Bonus 3- The back up singers were none other than Tina Turner and the Ikettes.

(Since Mom is not the biggest Zappa fan, here's a bonus appropriate video link for her.)
 
 
Answer 4- Butch Patrick from The Munsters recorded “What Ever Happened to Eddie?”
Bonus 4- The book and its animated adaptation (also starring Butch Patrick) was The Phantom Tollbooth.

 
 
Answer 5- The song used in multiple forms during that John Landis classic, and most effectively at the end where the baseline cuts in straight from Alex's uncontrollable sobbing over David's reverted to human bullet riddled body,  is  "Blue Moon." 
Bonus 5- The song is “Santa Lucia.” 

Wow that video and audio quality was awful. The song's definitive version is supposed to be Enrico Caruso's version (1916) but since Dad liked Mario Lanza, (I had an IMPRESSIVELY diverse and cool variety of education and pop culture in my upbringing) here is Lanza's 1952 version. 

Note- My daughter did say, "You do say that all the time," for the quote, but accused me of exaggerating how often I break into that song. This is because she is not with me during the exhausted delirium that often accompanies yard work.
 
 
 
Tie Breaker Question-
To stay along with my own personal experiences with American Werewolf in London: I only have one complaint about this film. I always thought that a 1978 Warren Zevon song, suggested to him by Phil Everly after watching a 1935 film with a similar title, would be perfect for this film. The  title, the subject matter and the tone all match up with the movie. Yet the movie didn’t even throw in a reference to it. Perhaps because John Landis first thought of the story while working on Kelley’s Heroes - years before the song came out. What is the song Zevon called, “A dumb song for smart people” ?
Tie Breaker Bonus- The B side of that song, part of the “Terror Trilogy” which included the title track to the Excitable Boy album, never got released as a single. I am STUNNED during the frequent times I listen to it that no one has ever made a film about this musical tale of an undead mercenary. What is that song?
 
Second spoiler space for answers.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tie Breaker Answer-
The song is the Halloween Classic- “Werewolves of London.” 

A- HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 

Seriously, the movie could have thrown in the appropriately named Chinse Restaurant. Lee Ho Fook's was open in London until 2008.
Tie Breaker Bonus- The bonus song is the wildly entertaining, “Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner.”
 

Shout outs- 

To Anabelle for both her crisp Five Points in the pre posting read through, and her hilarious answers when she kind of remembered (or had no idea of ) the answers, including using the troll emoji.

To Alex for getting Two Points on the Social Media listings, but more importantly for being the only one who usually recognizes the weird film and tv show quotes I post.

And to Kim for asking where she should answer the social media posts, and then forgetting to answer any of them. We're all having a heck of a week.

 
 
I don’t have any ideas for more Christmas music trivia yet, but that’s never stopped me before.
And with a whole year, I’m sure I’ll think of more Halloween ones. Hey, there’s seven Universal films with Frankenstein's monster, meaning I won’t run out of titles for a while.
Thanx for playing!

[Later edit- Three days after I wrote this, I had all of this year's Christmas questions written...

two days after that, I had all of next Halloween's questions written except the tie breaker.]