By Leong Qi Tyng – Contributing Writer
When I was nine years old, my class teacher at the time loved telling ghost stories before school ended. It was late in the evening so by the time I got home, the skies already darkened and my imagination went wild. It was also the first time I was taught a Malay song named Ulik Mayang which spooked me, so it did not make things any better! It wasn’t a scary song but somehow the tune haunted me. Asian ghost stories are just spookier for me. I recently read more about Ulik Mayang for this article and it seemed like I wasn’t the only person spooked by it, so… creepiness aside…
With Halloween coming up, I turn to livelier songs now. Problem solved! The two songs I like are Thriller by Michael Jackson and Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Some may disagree with me, but Glee had a mash up of both songs which I thought was catchy. Two other catchy songs are I’m In Love With A Monster by Fifth Harmony and In The Dark of the Night, from the film Anastasia. If I Had a Heart by Fever Ray and Once Upon a December (also from Anastasia) have a nice haunting sound to it as well.
In the spirit of Halloween, I asked students around campus which song they find spooky or if they couldn’t think of any spooky ones, which is their Halloween song. Thinking of an eerie song was a challenge for some but being good sports, they tried anyway!
Spooky Feel
- Pulangkan by Misha Omar, soundtrack from Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam (Arina Dalila, BA Mass Communications)
- Suspiria theme by Goblin (Liz Stebbing, BA English Literature with Film and Creative Writing)
- 3. The X-Files theme by Mark Snow (Anonymous, MSc Management)
- Wo Deng Zhe Ni Hui Lai (Waiting for You) by Bai Guang (Anonymous)
- Blackstar by David Bowie (Mamta Thaker, LLB (Hons))
- Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden (Mamta Thaker)
- One Missed Call, Japanese version (Eva Bong, BA Mass Communications)
- Stay by Shakespeare’s Sisters (Millie Cooper, BA English Literature and Creative Writing)
Halloween Picks
- Fire Coming Out of a Monkey’s Head by Gorillaz (Joshua Luke Dunk, BA Music Composition and Technology)
- Duel of the Fate by John Williams, soundtrack from Star Wars (Lau Hau Ying Natalie, BA Mass Communications)
- Halloween by The Misfits (Aalekh Wagh, LLB (Hons))
- Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne (Aalekh)
- This Is Halloween, soundtrack from Nightmare Before Christmas (Anonymous)
- Bring Me to Life by Evanescence (Hannah Reading, BA IT Management for Business)
- They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! by Napoleon XIV (Liz Stebbing)
- Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell (Liz Stebbing)
- I Put a Spell On You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (Brittney Meads, BA Fashion Design and Business)
- Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult (Marionne Guerra, BA Biomedical Science)
- Buttons by Sia (Lim Pei Xi, BA Mass Communications)