Buttkickin' Halloween Songs: "Insects" - Oingo Boingo (1982)

Tiny insects in my hair
Tiny insects everywhere
Tiny insects in my pants
Watching insects make romance
Insects make me— make me want to dance, dance, dance
They make want to dance, dance, dance
Those insects make me want to dance…

I mean, come on. Halloween. Oingo Boingo. You don’t even have to dig all that deep.

This also makes for two Danny Elfman-related songs in a row, which won’t happen again (we like to shake things up here). Then again Insects is entirely a worthy song, let’s go ahead and break some rules.

Just for the feel of it alone, it’s entirely Halloweenish. It opens with some creepy synthetic buzzing and alien howls before erupting into a perfect mélange of Synthpop, New Wave, Rock, Ska, even a bit Disco. Oingo Boing were pretty much masters of taking diverse rhythms and styles, and somehow making them joyously concordant.

Like any other piece of strange wondrous art, Insects is probably entirely metaphorical. The horrors of detoxification? The frustrations of unfulfilled sexual desires? A general ill-at-ease in contemporary society? Maybe. Or maybe some guy is getting devoured by carnivorous crotch crickets. Who knows? It just makes for some good Halloween Big Booty Boogie-Time!

(If I hosted a late-night horror movie show, I’d call it Halloween Big Booty Boogie-Time…)

Insects crawling all around
Insects squirming in the ground
Insects—gooey, squeaky, chewy
Should I eat them? No!
I’d rather stomp them, hurt them—stomp
Stomp them while I dance, dance, (Hurt!) dance
I hurt them while I dance, dance, (Stomp!) dance