Going for a Ride on Halloween Night!
About this track
Picture yourself on a wild roller coaster, careening through haunted woods on the spookiest night of the year!
Yes, there are lyrics for this tune!
- But you will not hear them in this video.
INSPIRATION:
This video was the result of a disarming impromptu recording of the Silver Shamrock jingle which forms the basis of the track (see on-screen credits).
Music was inspired by Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith and the innovative, quirky music of electronic pioneers Raymond Scott and Gershon Kingsley, formidable composers regardless of medium.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t direct you to the masters that defined “the symphonic sound of spookiness”, notably Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, and Modeste Mussorgsky.
The haunting wind intro and outro is part of the “Vortex Graveyard” soundscape available elsewhere on my channel. Like much of the music on my videos, it was entirely synthesized on 1980s hardware.
THE COMPOSITION:
Even after a hundred years of mainstream-ness, syncopation still has an effect on the listener, even if they can’t put their finger on it. Literally offbeat rhythms and the juxtaposition of orchestral and synthesizer timbre informs this spooky cue.
The concept of this track is a frenetic “wild ride” through an autumnal phantasmagoria, similar to Ichabod Crane’s final ride through the eldritch woods in Sleepy Hollow.
THE VIDEO:
The original idea for the visuals was a tour of Matt’s elaborate Halloween extravaganza, but my footage wasn’t ready for primetime. Maybe someday I can revisit the idea with the lyrics to “Going For A Ride On Halloween Night” married to the original visual concept.
I enjoyed working with Disney’s newly public domain Haunted House cartoon, a companion to the more famous “Skeleton Dance”. Aside from the tinting, I did a few additional color holdouts and extensions, changing the focus of the final iris-out.
METAFICTION VALEDICTION:
In the spirit of the season, to paraphrase Orson Welles, “That grinning, glowing, globular invader in your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch. And if your doorbell rings and nobody’s there. . . it’s Halloween!”