For those of us thinking back to the first era of rock and roll, Halloween involves listening to “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers.

Bobby Pickett was born Robert George Pickett in Somervile, Massachusetts. His father was a theater manager, so Bobby saw many horror films as a child. Pickett and Leonard Capizzi co-wrote “Monster Mash,” as a parody of the dance crazes at the time (e.g., the mashed potato, the twist). Label after label turned it down, but Gary S. Paxton produced it for his Garpax Records. The Crypt-Kickers were Leon Russell on piano, Johnny MacRae, Rickie Page and Terry Berg. (Sometimes Mel Taylor, drummer for The Ventures, is credited as well.) The song went to #1 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 and sold more than one million copies, earning it an RIAA gold record. There was also an LP “The Original Monster Mash,” which had other monster-themed songs on it. “Monster Mash” rose from the dead and charted in the U.S. again in 1970 and 1973. “Monster Mash” went to #3 in the U.K. in 1973. And the song gets airplay annually to this day.

Pickett was an U.S. Army veteran, having served during the Korean War. He released other themed and parody albums and wrote for stage, film, and TV. He died in 2007 at the age of 69 due to complications from leukemia.

Here are the lyrics to “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett:

I was working in the lab, late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash, he did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
He did the mash, it caught on in a flash
He did the mash, he did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash, they did the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They did the mash, it caught on in a flash
They did the mash, they did the monster mash

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolfman,
Dracula, and his son

The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, ‘The Crypt-Kicker Five’

They played the mash, they played the monster mash
The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash
They played the mash, it caught on in a flash
They played the mash, they played the monster mash

Out from his coffin, Drac’s voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
Opened the lid and shook his fist and said
“Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist? ”

It’s now the mash, it’s now the monster mash
The monster mash, it’s graveyard smash
It’s now the mash, it caught on in a flash
It’s now the mash, it’s now the monster mash

Now everything’s cool, Drac’s a part of the band
And my Monster Mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

Then you can mash, then you can monster mash
The monster mash, and do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash, you’ll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash, then you can monster mash

For More Golden Oldies Music

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop music, rock and roll hits, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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