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Posts tagged as “Screamin’ Jay Hawkins”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Funky Halloween Music” Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Funky Halloween Music” Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 2, 2023

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy first Monday of October, you all!

It’s Halloween time once again, and I’m back with another Funky Halloween Music playlist for this spooky season. Here is 13 hours of more Soul, Reggae, Funk, Jazz, and movie soundtracks.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Sry7T5O1DwY2mzATClKC6?si=979978a5499a44c7″]

I freely admit to casting a very wide net for this playlist, including tracks simply featured in The Blackening, Nope, Get Out, Us, The Master and others.

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Beyoncé, Gravediggaz, The Weekend, Ella Fitzgerald, Little Simz, Exuma, King Tubby, Geto Boys, Bessie Smith, The Specials, Ray Parker Jr., and others are all present on the ever-evolving collection of Halloween music.

This music won’t scare trick-or-treaters from your porch — you can use my collections, “Blacula Strikes!: Black Horror Music” and “Phantom Of The Panther: Black Horror Scores and More” for that.

However, this collection will keep your spooky spirits up all month long.

Until next month, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Mind Playing Tricks” – a Soulful Halloween Collection for 2021 (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Mind Playing Tricks” – a Soulful Halloween Collection for 2021 (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 11, 2021

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

“I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire / I got a cobra snake for a necktie / A brand new house on the roadside / and it’s a-made out of rattlesnake hide / Got a brand new chimney put on top / and it’s a-made outta human skull / I’ve got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind / I’m just twenty-two and I don’t mind dying.”

Just a few lyrics from Bo Diddley’s “Who Do You Love” that go a long way towards illustrating the nature of the Halloween collection. Of course, there’s Screamin Jay Hawkins and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross vocalizing overt spooky tales.

Though there are many tracks in this collection that simply reference dark imagery to warn of the perils of romantic love, and make social commentary.

Geto Boys, Brittany Howard, Funkadelic, and others all are here to tell of real-world horrors. While Alice Smith is present with an umpteenth version of “I Put A Spell On You,”  and sista manages to transform it into a statement all her own.

There are several versions of  St. Louis true folktale “Stagger Lee.” You can bet there are songs aplenty of about vampires, ghosts, and zombies too. More chills to come next week.

Until such time, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Fantastic Voyage” – A Tribute to the Funk Music of Dayton, Ohio (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Fantastic Voyage” – A Tribute to the Funk Music of Dayton, Ohio (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 24, 2020

The Ohio Players (Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Dayton, Ohio was already a mecca of grooves, before Lakeside first dubbed it “The Land of Funk” in its swashbuckling cut “Fantastic Voyage.”

In the 1970s and 1980s, southwestern Ohio – particularly Dayton’s west side – was known for its collective of funk bands whose influence can still be heard in hip-hop, house, and other forms popular today.

The Ohio Players, the grandmasters of them all, have seen their songs sampled or remade by Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Salt-N-Pepa, Soundgarden, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to name but a few.

I’ve thrown in tracks by fellow Ohioans — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, The Isley Brothers and Bobby Womack — to further show the disproportionate amount of funk Ohio has produced.

This will be another one that will make you move. Enjoy.

Stay safe, sane, and kind, you all!

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Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)