‘Monster Mash’ – a graveyard smash that caught on

In summer 1973, Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s original “Monster Mash” (released this time on Parrot Records) reached the Top 10 for a second time.

Its first success had come about 11 years earlier, when Bobby’s platter shot all the way to Number One.

Pickett sang lead with a Hollywood band called the Cordials. One evening, while performing the old Diamonds’ hit “Little Dar- lin,’ Bobby delivered the song’s monologue in the low-pitched voice of horror movie icon Boris Karloff.

The audience loved the spoof, and fellow Cordial Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to keep up the fun.

Eventually the two musicians (both horror movie fans) decided that such goofiness could be developed into a Halloween novelty tune.

And were they ever right!

Their original title was

“Monster Twist,” but at the time Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” was fading and being replaced by DeeDee Sharp’s dance disc “Mashed Potato Time.” The duo altered the lyrics accordingly:

I was working in the lab late one night

When my eyes beheld an eerie sight

For my monster from his slab began to rise

And suddenly to my surprise