Parsons Playlists: Halloween 2020

Welcome to the third installment of Parsons Playlists, back after a hiatus and featuring a Halloween playlist from Music Library Associate, Melanie Armstrong.

Halloween 2020

Melanie says: “Since Halloween 2020 is going to be a bit … different, I – your friendly neighborhood Music Library Associate – made a playlist in that vein.
I’ve left out some of the more obvious Halloween playlist picks (like “Thriller“, or “Spooky“, or “Ghostbusters“), and hope you’ll enjoy this idiosyncratic selection! I’ve included some songs for the Halloween blue moon (the first Halloween blue moon since 1944) among other things.”

Otis Redding – “Trick or Treat”

Billie Eilish – “Bury A Friend”

billie eilish

The Cramps – “I Was A Teenage Werewolf”

Missy Elliott – “Get Ur Freak On”

Missy Elliott - Get Ur Freak On

The Marcels – “Blue Moon”

(This doo-wop version is arguably the most famous version of “Blue Moon”, but it was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934!)

King Harvest – “Dancing in the Moonlight”

blue moon

Electric Light Orchestra – “Strange Magic”

Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Hell”

Vintage Halloween Dance

Van Halen – “Runnin’ With The Devil”
(in tribute to Eddie Van Halen who passed away this month)

Talking Heads – “Psycho Killer”

The Police – “Murder By Numbers”

Halloween dogs

The White Stripes – “Little Ghost”

Louis Armstrong – “The Skeleton in the Closet”

Le Squellette Joyeux

The Divine Comedy – “The Happy Goth”

They Might Be Giants – “Dead”

Groovie Ghoulies – “(She’s My) Vampire Girl”

Black Cat and Jack O'Lantern

Yoko Ono – “Yes, I’m A Witch”

Eels – “My Beloved Monster”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer stake

Billy Joel – “The Stranger”
(a song about masks feels EXTRA appropriate at the moment … plus fun with metaphors!)

R.E.M. – “It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”

And here it all is as a Spotify playlist for you:

Plus here’s a bonus (not available on Spotify) cheese-tacular Halloween artifact from the 1980s featuring the inimitable Tim Curry:

We sincerely hope that everyone has a safe & fun Halloween (despite the particular weirdness of 2020).

jack o lantern

YouTube playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57Zew8nvrzDii5yoNOsWmj69_s

Parsons Playlists : “A Tribute to Adam Schlesinger (1967-2020)”

Welcome to our second installment of Parsons Playlists. Our second playlist is from Music Library Associate, Melanie Armstrong and is a tribute to songwriter Adam Schlesinger, whose career was cut short on April 1st, 2020 due to complications from Covid-19.

Adam Schlesinger

Melanie says: “I first became aware of Adam Schlesinger’s work when I discovered the band Fountains of Wayne in the early 2000s. But come to find out, I had already heard his amazing pop sensibility thanks to the title song of the 1996 movie That Thing You Do!. He wrote music for many other TV, Broadway and film projects and also for the musical TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which happens to be one of my very favorite recent TV shows. I also threw in a couple of TV Christmas songs since I blog about holiday programs with my husband. So please enjoy this sampling of his amazing and alas too short career! This music will definitely make you smile though, and that’s quite a legacy to leave behind.”

Fountains of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom” (2003) (probably the biggest hit of the group’s career)

Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers album cover (2003)

Fountains of Wayne – Welcome Interstate Managers album cover (2003)

The Wonders – “That Thing You Do” (1996)

Pretend 1960s single cover for "That Thing You Do"

Josie and the Pussycats – “Pretend To Be Nice” (2001)

Josie and the Pussycats (2001)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast featuring Santino Fontana – “Settle for Me” (2015) (A delightful Emmy-nominated little Fred & Ginger musical pastiche)

Settle for Me

Hugh Grant & Drew Barrymore in Music & Lyrics – “The Way Back Into Love” (2007)

Fountains of Wayne – “Radiation Vibe” (1996)

Fountains of Wayne - Self Titled Debut album

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (featuring Rachel Bloom) – “You Stupid Bitch” (2016)

ysb

Stephen Colbert – “Another Christmas Song” (2008)

A Colbert Christmas (2008)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast – “California Christmastime” (2015)

Cry-Baby Musical Cast – “Nobody Gets Me” (2007)

Cry-Baby the Musical

Fountains of Wayne – “Hey Julie” (2003)

The Monkees – “Our Own World” (2016)

The Monkees - Good Times!

12th studio album by the Monkees, produced by Adam Schlesinger and released in 2016

Ivy – “Edge of the Ocean” (2001)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast (featuring Michael Hyatt) – “Antidepressants Are So Not A Big Deal” (2019) (Won Emmys for Outstanding Music & Lyrics and Outstanding Choreography)

GettyImages-1174801858

Adam Schlesinger, Rachel Bloom and Jack Dolgen celebrating their Emmy win for “Antidepressants Are So Not A Big Deal”

Fountains of Wayne – “Sink to the Bottom” (1996)

Adam Schlesinger – Youtube Playlist

Spotify Playlist (with bonus songs!)

Parsons Playlists: Walking Music

Although we are all socially distant at the moment, we thought it might be fun and encouraging to share playlists as a way to connect (with a tip of the hat to our friends at the Modlin Center for the Arts who started sharing playlists a couple of weeks ago).

To kick things off here’s a play list from Linda Fairtile, the Head of Parsons Music Library.

Dr. Fairtile says, “It’s a mix of jazz and classical music that I listen to on my morning walk. It makes me happy and gets my feet moving.”

Ahmad Jamal – “Poinciana (Live at the Pershing, Chicago 1958)”

Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing

Silvestre Revueltas – “Caminando” (1937)

Silvestre Revueltas

Oscar Peterson – “Night Child”

Oscar Peterson - Freedom Song: The Oscar Peterson Big 4 in Japan '82

Philip Glass – “Akhnaten (Act I, Scene I: Funeral of Amenhotep III)”

Philip Glass - Akhnaten

Stanley Turrentine – “Pieces of Dreams”

Stanley Turrentine Pieces of Dreams

Walking Music – Youtube Playlist