{"id":8960,"date":"2017-10-02T19:17:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T23:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/?p=8960"},"modified":"2022-11-01T12:38:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T16:38:47","slug":"buttkickin-halloween-songs-hello-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/millheiser.com\/hokeyblog\/2017\/10\/02\/buttkickin-halloween-songs-hello-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Hello Again” — The Cars (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"And when there’s nothing
\nNothing left to lose
\nYou leave it all
\nTo fade to blue…<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s October 1st!! Well, October 2nd, fine, but October means one magical thing here at Hokeyblog: CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!! That’s right, the leaves fall off the trees and the curling brooms stop being used as dueling devices against your little brother and actually for the art of curling and the magical dulcet tones of Anne Murray are carried by the wind across lower Manitoba and everyone apologizes in abundance and…<\/p>\n

None of you are laughing.<\/p>\n

Yes I’ve been away for a good long while, and you’re pissed.<\/p>\n

And I can’t fault you for that. So while I come up with a legitimate excuse\/forgive-me post, let’s get to the real fun of October: our ever-growing list of Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs<\/strong>!! That’s right, for the fifth year running we here at Hokeyblog spend the entire month named after the late great Octavian Augustus (sucker got TWO months; even the King of the Gods got only one) sharing our favorite spooky tunes to elevate and illuminate your Halloween awesomeness.<\/p>\n

And we’re kicking things off today with a song that isn’t really all that spooky at all… except that it has a kooky weirdness and creepy-fun musicality that could easily belong in your local county fair’s haunted house. That’s right, we’re hitting up the 1984 hit by The Cars, Hello Again<\/strong>. The musical is all Carnival Gone Mad, eccentric and off-putting but still upbeat and fun. Couldn’t you just picture a dancing line of witches, skeletons, ghouls, ghosts, goblins, attorneys, zombies, and gelatinous cubes all grooving in unison to Ric Ocasek’s creepy-nasal vocals and those omnipresent fun-house organ keyboards chasing you around a hall of mirrors?<\/p>\n

Reviewing the song’s lyrics, you could derive a few dozen subject matter interpretations. I have my own, and it fits the music perfectly. The narrator, long since a ghost, watches as a friend\/spouse\/partner in life decides to end it all and move on the next world. And amid the clamor of the undead, the supernatural, and the just plain spooky-weird, an old friend greets another after a long time coming…<\/p>\n

Oh, you passed on mercy
\nYou tried the rest
\nYou gave your body
\nYou gave your best<\/em><\/p>\n

Staring at the green door<\/em>
\n Living in the sky<\/em>
\n You don’t want to know it<\/em>
\n You just want to fly…<\/em><\/p>\n