LYRICAL LOITERINGS OF A LISTENER Series
Thoughts, ideas and reactions provoked by song lyrics. The series is also featured on Clink Music Magazine.
Some would consider Type O Negative’s song “Halloween In Heaven” wholly blasphemous, which is, arguably and sadly, a reductive interpretation overlooking the song’s great sense of humour. “Halloween In Heaven” ironically marries the Godly Christmas celebration of Jesus’ birth and the ancient demon-associated festival of Samhain that, according to legend, saw evil spirits roam the earth.
Halloween In Heaven
The dead they got that morbid beat
It goes deo deo
They dance upon decaying feet
With their black toes, oh no
Heaven, limbo, and hell
Purgatory oh well, oh well
Halloween in heaven
It’s Christmas in hell
Halloween in heaven
Oh well, oh well
The devil stole a yule tree
Decorated with souls
Jesus trick or treating
As him below
Heaven, limbo, and hell
Purgatory oh well, oh well
Halloween in heaven
It’s Christmas in hell
Halloween in heaven
Oh well, oh well
Bonham on drums, Entwistle on bass
As guest morticians
Bon Scott on vox
Rhoads just for kicks
On guitar Hendrix
Lennon sits in
With his friend George
But where is Morrison?
Of course I cried
When I heard they’d died
And took a part of me
Same time gave
From beyond the grave
Became what was meant to be
Elvis ain’t dead
So he isn’t here
Party never ends
Demon roadies, angel groupies
Suicide losers
If only I’d known how cool death is
I’d have killed myself sooner
Of harps and choirs
Pumpkin pine pyres
Flames of red and green
Orange and black
Years take me back
Christmas or Halloween
Halloween in heaven
It’s Christmas in hell
Halloween in heaven
Oh well, oh well
Through the humorous assimilation of two traditionally opposing celebratory days (Christmas and Halloween) – which, in symbolic terms, suggests the assimilation of God and the Devil – the lyricist seems to be making a religious comment about the nature of God; that He and the devil are in fact one and the same. The song’s religious ponderings are of not much interest to me and I have no intention of delving into some theological debate about the nature of God. What does interest me about the song is its provocative sense of humour.
The opening lines of “Halloween In Heaven” ooze a dramatic sense of the macabre. The image of the dead, who sing and “dance upon decaying feet” to the tune of “deo deo” or “day-o day-o” reminds me of that deranged, yet utterly genius, scene in Burton’s Beetlejuice where the Maitland ghosts (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), with the help of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), sabotage the Deetz’s dinner party by ‘possessing’ the guests and forcing them to engage in a crazy rendition of the “Banana Boat Song”. The Maitlands are stuck in the same kind of weird limbo that “Halloween In Heaven” talks of in the first verse. Tim Burton’s comical interpretation of horrific subject matter is a theme that prevails in his art; the director thematically invokes satire by undermining taboo subjects, usually death, and Type O Negative’s song relates.
The satirical tone of “Halloween In Heaven” successfully demythologises the modern festival of Halloween with the use of hilarious oxymoron. The song imagines a celebration of Halloween in Heaven and Christmas in Hell, and is permeated with brilliant contradictions such as “Pumpkin pine pyres “ and “Flames of red and green”. As part of the festivities, the devil “stole a yule tree/Decorated with souls” and in Heaven residents see “Jesus trick or treating”. The guests to the party are dead music heroes, including John Bonham, John Entwistle, John Lennon, George Harrison, Randy Rhoads, Bon Scott and Jimi Hendrix. The fact that these men are referred to as “guest morticians” implies that they are at Heaven’s Halloween party, or perhaps they are on loan from Hell? Either way, Jim Morrison is missing from Heaven’s festivities, implying that the dead singer is in Hell. And Elvis isn’t dead (as many have been saying for years) so he isn’t there at all. The image of a group of dead musos, along with angel groupies, rocking out to a celebration of Halloween in Heaven whilst the suicide losers and demon roadies (along with Jim Morrison) celebrate Christmas in Hell, is so darkly absurd that it can only be funny – a testament to the lyricist’s great wit and sense of humour. The song alludes to the pop-culturalisation of Halloween in modern society. The religious zealots of ancient society have no place in the twenty first century; Halloween, to a large portion of the world, is no longer about demons and death; it is about sweets, dress-up, parties, pumpkins… and fun. Even Christians celebrate the creativity and frivolity associated with pop-culture Halloween – any excuse for a good party. How the times have changed.
“Halloween in Heaven” challenges the meaning of both Christmas and Halloween in contemporary culture and in so doing obliquely comments on the commercialism attached to both festivals. Many Christians do still observe Christmas as a deeply significant celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. But many non-Christians celebrate Christmas in the spirit of family and giving, which detracts from its original intention. Of course, there are all sorts of theories denoting the pagan nature of Christmas – or rather the actual date on which Christmas falls, December 25, which was synonymous with the winter festival of Yule-tide celebrated by the Germanic people of old – and puritans and iconoclasts, even to this day, condemn the celebration of Christmas because of its alleged superstitious heritage. But that is almost beside the point. Christmas, as a modern tradition, has succumbed to the pagan god of commercialism and it is thus, arguably, as godless a celebration as that of Halloween – the song thus satirises the inconsistencies of the ideological stand point often adopted by Christian fundamentalists.
“Halloween in Heaven” conjoins Christmas and Halloween, Heaven and Hell, in one big orgy of celebration – that is what the world has made of these deeply symbolic festivals. Perhaps the blasphemy inherent in “Heaven In Halloween” is not only prevalent in the de-sanctification of Heaven and Christmas but also in the modern corruption of Halloween and Hell.
