1) James Blunt, “Goodbye My Lover”
2) Robbie Williams, “Angels”
3) Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”
4) Bette Midler, “Wind Beneath My Wings”
5) “Pie Jesu”

2 We wanted to ask our Sound Opinions listeners this morbid question. Here are some of the “swan songs” you told us about via email or message board:

Santo and Johnny, “Sleepwalk”
The Buzzcocks, “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”
Curtis Mayfield, “Freddie’s Dead”
Jeff Buckley, “Corpus Christi Texas”
R.E.M., “Try Not to Breathe”
Jeff Buckley, “Satisfied Mind”
Tom Waits, “Come On Up To The House”
Peter Gabriel's. “I Grieve”
Joy Division, “In a Lonely Place”
The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows”
Alice Cooper “I Love the Dead”
Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)”
Billy Bragg and Wilco, “Remember the Mountain Bed”

3 Jim and Greg were forced to think about their final day as well. Greg goes first (since Jim predicts he actually will). He decides he wants John Cale’s cover of “Hallelujah,” to be played at his funeral. He calls it the 20th century version of "Amazing Grace". Although Cale’s version strays from Leonard Cohen’s original, Greg thinks the message remains intact: “I made a lot of mistakes, but it was all worthwhile.”

4 Jim predicts that even at his funeral he won’t be able to resist one last chance to be sarcastic. He chooses an irreverent version of Frank Sinatra’s classic “My Way.” Jim shares Hoboken roots with “Ol' Blue Eyes,” but he feels he shares a lot more with Sex Pistols member Sid Vicious. So all of you Sound Opinions listeners who plan to come out to mourn on that fateful day will be able to enjoy this punk cover.

5 Next up Jim and Greg move into the dark, “labyrinthian” underground of Goth Rock. What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a Goth soundtrack. Before they discuss the current scene with their special Goth guest, Jim and Greg want to highlight songs from a recent Rhino box set which celebrates the genre. Included in this montage are:

The Cure, “Charlotte Sometimes”
Einsturzende Neubauten, “Morning Dew”
The Cult, “Rain”
Alien Sex Fiend, “Now I’m Feeling Zombified”
The Sisters of Mercy, “Temple of Love”
Killing Joke, “Tomorrow’s World”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “The Weeping Song”

6 For Jim and Greg the ultimate Goth progenitors are the band Bauhaus. Named for the German art movement, the group made minimalist, electronic music which focused on dark subjects. Initially, they shied away from the term “Goth,” but with song titles like that of their debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” you can understand why it stuck. Greg saw the group at the Coachella Music Festival in 2005, and vocalist Peter Murphy performed the entire song suspended upside down over the stage like a bat. So, it seems they’ve warmed up to the Goth moniker.

7 In order to go deeper into the Goth underground, Jim and Greg invite Scary Lady Sarah to join the show. Our guest has been a mainstay on the goth scene for almost 20 years. She is a DJ and promoter based in Chicago and Berlin, and runs American Goth Productions. Here’s a list of the tracks Scary Lady Sarah plays on the show:

Thatch Noir, “Cat in a Box”
Miguel and the Living Dead, “Graveyard Love Song”
Faith & The Muse, “Sredni Vashtar”
Pretentious, Moi?, “The Haunting”

Her other current faves include:

Blacklist
Diary of Dreams
Entertainment
Ether Aura
Frank the Baptist
Mephisto Walz
Passion Play
Solemn Novena

8 For more Goth info DJ Scary Lady Sarah recommends these websites (complete w/ her commentary):

American Gothic Productions (me!)
Cathedral XIII (goth Internet radio)
Dark Side of the Net (*the* most complete goth links site in the world!)
Deathrock.com (home of “creepy rock ‘n roll”)
Gothic Chicago (resource for goth in Chicago)
Kaleidoscope (print zine from the UK)
Nemesis To Go (incredibly reliable & well- written goth music online zine)
Starvox (online zine chock full of goth music reviews)
The REAL Gothic FAQ (humorous, but true. I can't help it. I love this site!)

As well as these labels:
Middle Pillar
Projekt
Resurrection
Rhino Records
Strobelight

9a During the final segment of the show, our Halloween-loving hosts play their picks for scariest rock songs. Greg’s first choice is “Dead Souls” by Joy Division. This band didn’t necessarily look scary, but they definitely have a dark history. Lead singer Ian Curtis suffered from epilepsy and would often have seizures onstage. He committed suicide in 1980, cementing the band’s tortured image.

9b Greg’s second song is Johnny Cash’s cover of “The Mercy Seat” by Nick Cave. Cave is often associated with the Goth movement, but Cash is not someone you usually think of on a spooky Halloween night. This song fits perfectly into Cash’s repertoire. It tells the story of a death row inmate on the last night of his life. Benmont Tensch’s backing music in particular lends a haunting feel.

10 Jim wanted to illustrate Goth’s influence on other genres with his first pick. The group Bloodrock is composed of your average hard-rock “buffoons,” according to Jim, but Jim can’t think of anything more gothic than the subject of their song “D.O.A.” It tells the tale of a car crash victim on his way to the other side (and it sounds like the bad side).

10b Jim’s final track is by Susan Janet Dallion, otherwise known as Siouxsie Sioux. Siouxsie emerged out of the Bromley punk scene to join the Banshees and form her own distinctive sound. Her look and her sound solidified the singer as female Goth icon. The Beatles' song “Dear Prudence” isn’t particularly scary, but Siouxie’s menacing vocals give it an ominous tone. In this rendition, Jim imagines that Prudence’s fate is not unlike that of most horror film heroines.


Songs Featured in Show #47

James Blunt, "Goodbye My Lover," Back to Bedlam, 2005
Bette Midler, "Wind Beneath My Wings," Wind Beneath My Wings, 1979
Santo and Johnny, "Sleepwalk," Billboard Top Rock and Roll Hits 1959, 1959
The Buzzcocks, "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" Singles Going Steady, 1979
Curtis Mayfield, "Freddie's Dead" Superfly, 1972
Jeff Buckley, "Satisfied Mind," Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, 1998
John Cale, "Hallelujah," Grace, 1998
Sid Vicious, "My Way," Sid Sings, 1979
Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead" Bela Lugosi's Dead, 1979
Thatch Noir, "Cat in a Box"
Miguel and the Living Dead, "Graveyard Love Song"
Faith and the Muse, "Srendi Vashtar," The Burning Season, 2003
Pretnetious Moi?, "The Haunting"
The Misfits, "Halloween" Legacy of Brutality, 1985
Joy Division, "Dead Souls," Still, 1981
Bloodrock, "DOA" Bloodrock 2, 1970
Nick Cave, "Mercy Seat," Tender Prey, 1988
Siouxsie and the Banshees, "Dear Prudence," Nocturne, 1983