Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “No One Lives Forever” — Oingo Boingo (1985)

You worry too much
You make yourself sad
You can’t change fate
But don’t feel so bad
Enjoy it while you can
It’s just like the weather
So quit complaining brother
No one lives forever…

Holy crap, we’re 23 days into October, still a week out from Halloween, and I haven’t featured any Oingo Boingo yet.

So let’s rectify that immediately, shall we? We shall… with a cut from their 1985 album Dead Man’s Party — which, by the way, is a song that will NEVER be featured in our Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs. Seriously. I might as well throw in Thriller, Monster Mash, and the goddamn theme from Ghostbusters.

Nope, we’re going with the fatalistically celebratory No One Lives Forever, and it’s a perfect Halloween beaut. Of course it’s got those inimitable Danny Elfman vocals and macabre melodies meets 80s ska/new wave, whatever you want to call it.

All of that reeks of Halloween at its best, no doubt. But I love No One Lives Forever because of its pragmatic look at the tenuous nature of mortality, that we might as well dance our brains out while the Grim Reaper swipes at us with his scythe. As long as you can keep dancing, freakin’ DANCE and live and love and enjoy this amazing cosmic lottery we call life.

One day the music will stop for us all. That’s cool. At least we can say we did The Robot, tried the punch, and got a warm smile from Mary Margaret once in a while. Walk out that last door with your head up and big ass smile on your face. And one last boogie.

Let’s have a party there’s a full moon in the sky 
It’s the hour of the wolf and I don’t want to’ die
No one beats him at his game
For very long but just the same
Who cares there’s no place safe to hide
Nowhere to run no time to cry
So celebrate why you still can
Cause any second it may end
And when it’s all been said and done
Better that you had some fun
Instead of hiding in a shell
Why make your life a living hell?
Have a toast, down the cup
Drink to bones that turn to dust

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