Spooky Song Review: Halloween by Sonic Youth

There are some Halloween song staples that are constantly played during October. Songs such as “The Monster Mash” and “Ghostbusters” get their time in the spotlight, but there are also some spooky songs that are overlooked throughout the season. 

One of the songs that I feel is overlooked in the Halloween music canon is the song “Halloween” by Sonic Youth. “Halloween” is a song that appeared initially as a bonus track on the CD edition of the band’s third album, “Bad Moon Rising.”  

This album has a lot of Halloween imagery involved around and within it already. The front cover of the album contains a scarecrow with a burning jack-o'-lantern as its head. The burning jack-o'-lantern motif was a part of their identity during this time, as they also appeared as stage decorations during a performance in London one day after the album was released.  

It also appeared in the band’s notable bootleg live album, "Walls Have Ears,” which has a jack-o'-lantern with an orange background.  

“Halloween” is a unique song within the album, as it is slower than most of the tracks and eschews most of the noise elements that are prominently featured throughout the rest of the album.  

The song starts off with a slow introduction after a fade-in. The introduction already brings an air of eeriness to the song, which could possibly have been from the alternative tuning they used to play the song.  

The song’s lyrics begin eerie as well, with Kim Gordon singing “There's something shifting in the distance / Don't know what it is.” These lyrics set the tone for the song going forward, which describes a man that Gordon is entranced by. Gordon takes no time to immediately describe a feeling of awe she has when this man is singing and dancing near to her. 

The way she describes this feeling she has by saying that it is “crawling up inside” of her sounds very sinister when added to the unusual sounding guitars in the background.

Gordon continues this trend throughout the song by bringing in imagery of this man twisting and singing on stage while she stares in awe.  

Gordon throughout the song provides emphasis on both her confusion over the way this man is dancing and singing, with her mentioning multiple times the man is messing with her by doing this, and she doesn’t really know what he’s going to do next. 

The way that Gordon sings reinforces the sinister mood she is going for throughout the song, as well. Her delivery during the song is flat and monotone, which can be interpreted by the listener as being off-putting already, especially when you add the instrumental into the mix.  

The song’s instrumental really shines in terms of providing that ghostly atmosphere that is prominent throughout the song. The guitars throughout use an alternative tuning (F# F# F# F# E B) that has also been utilized in other songs to create a mystical and sometimes off-putting effect. Some examples of this are in their songs “I Love You Golden Blue” and “Society is a Hole,” the latter of which is on the same album. Both songs have a unique off-putting sound that permeates throughout, similar to “Halloween.” 

“Halloween” continues to be suspenseful through the creeping loudness and small changes to speed after Gordon’s lyrics. After her last “Twistin’,” the guitars creep louder and faster until around the four-minute mark, where they fade out through the rest of the outro.  

When listening, I feel like the outro’s suspenseful atmosphere adds to the vibe the song is going for because the lyrics are not quite resolved at the very end, keeping the listener on a cliffhanger.  

In short, if you want a creepy song for the Halloween season, I suggest you don’t look further than the Sonic Youth song named after the holiday itself.