As Halloween quickly approaches, we look at five of country music’s creepiest songs over the years. From Johnny Cash to Eric Church, it can get downright scary at times when country stars look to the dark side for a song or two.
A country classic by the Man In Black. “An old cowboy went riding out / One dark and windy day / Upon a ridge, he rested / As he went along his way / When all at once a mighty herd / Of red eyed cows he saw / Plowin’ through the ragged skies / And up the cloudy draw / Their brands were still on fire / And their hooves were made of steel / Their horns were black and shiny / And their hot breath he could feel.”
A fun and a creepy song about hiding who you are. This whole album,”Skeletons,” is just right for Halloween. The title song, “Skeletons,” plays with ominous music, and the lyric video features the duo as skeletons; they even bring out massive 14-foot skeletons on stage with them when they sing it live. “You got skeletons in your closet / It’s written all over your face / Every little lie stacked so high / Can’t keep your story straight / I don’t know oh oh / How they got there, it’s getting under my skin / You got skeletons in your closet / And I got bones to pick with them, oh.”
A murder song where Church’s character gets buried in the creepy as-hell music video. “Hey buddy, hey buddy, ain’t that Mississippi muddy / In this town, well, yeah, she takes what you give her / So tonight I lay me down to sleep / And pray my soul and my secret to keep / Between you, me and the river.”
Another country classic that has played heavily at Halloween since its release in 1980. The song about an angry ghost. The lyrics of the song begin, “If you ever go back into Wooly Swamp son you better not go at night / There’s things out there in the middle of them woods / That’d make a strong man die from fright / There’s things that crawl and things that fly / And things that creep around on the ground / And they say the ghost of Lucias Clay gets up and it walks around.”
The title says it all about a love that will not go away. Even the melody is creepy. “You shot out of hell like a bullet from a gun, / A flip of a switch, A thief on the run, / And since the day you left me Baby, / I can feel the lonely, I can hear the crazy. / Just a Creepin’ / Creepin’ / Just a Creepin’ / Creepin.'”
