Our Top 5 Favorite Creepy Songs

Yeah, there’s the monster mash, “Thriller” and all of the standard holiday songs that you’ll likely dance to or sing along with at least once this Halloween weekend. Nothing is scarier, though, than getting the creeps when you least expect them. It’s best then to watch out for these non-Halloween specific but still very eerie jams. Just like a distant howl in the night, the sound of them can be chill-inducing indeed. “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Take a little walk to the edge of town, go across the tracks, where the viaduct looms, like a bird of doom, as it shifts and cracks” advises Nick Cave in his gothic 1994 creeper “Red Right Hand,” which was inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Here, he says, you’ll meet a “tall handsome man, in a dusty black coat with a red right hand.” Actually, Nick, no thanks, we’re just going to head on home. “Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down” by Nancy Sinatra “Bang bang, he shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the ground. Bang bang, that awful sound,” goes this 1966 hit by Nancy Sinatra. Um, yikes. Poor Nancy also seems to reference a playground romance and doomed marriage. Although it’s unclear what exactly happened, whatever it was that went down, went down bad, baby. “House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals “Hey mama, tell your children, not to do what I have done,” warns this tale of damnation and ruin in the Big Easy. This doom-laden classic was popularized in 1964 by English rock act The Animals and warns again the dangers of drugs, booze and easy women. Some interpretations of the song say that the titular ‘house’ is actually a brothel. Watch for similarly foreboding versions by Nina Simone and Dolly Parton. #1 Crush by Garbage Singer Shirley Manson’s passion is clear in Garbage’s 1996 hit. “I would die for you” she growls, before backing up her offer with the threatening promise that she “will never be ignored.” Makes us want to back away, slowly. Every Breath You Take” by The Police “Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you” warns The Police’s 1983 stalker anthem classic. “It sounds like a comforting love song,” front man Sting once said. “I didn't realize at the time how sinister it is.”