Vote up the songs that make you want to croon like a creature of the night.
Christmas arguably tends to have a monopoly on melodies for popular holidays. Halloween, however, is right up there with occasions that deserve their own playlist. Numerous songs from Disney+ movies and shows might not be expressly about Halloween, but certainly have a Halloween-y vibe. All of these and more are now streaming on Disney+.
“Jingle Bells” isn't specifically about Dec. 25, and Halloween songs don't need to be explicitly about Oct. 31, so here are a bunch of Disney tunes that are about people, places, things, creatures, and phenomena that are creepy-adjacent, but nearly always with an overall theme of whimsy or at least wholesome horror.
Happy Halloween humming!
This sponsored list was created with the participation of Disney+.
'This Is Halloween' From 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'
"Boys and girls of every age: Wouldn't you like to see something strange?" Of course you do, and the citizens of Halloween Town are happy (in a scary way) to oblige.
In the song “This Is Halloween," from Tim Burton'sThe Nightmare Before Christmas, the stop-motion animated musical film directed by Henry Selick, “Halloween” refers to the town rather than the holiday.
The tune, with lyrics and music by Danny Elfman, introduces viewers to the town's various ghosts, boogeyman (Oogie Boogie), Dr. Finkelstein, mayor, and “Pumpkin King” Jack Skellington, among other creatures, who remind listeners their job is to be a bit menacing, but never mean:
Tender lumplings everywhere Life's no fun without a good scare That's our job, but we're not mean In our town of Halloween
At 300 years old, witch Winifred Sanderson can SING. It helps that she's played by vocalist extraordinaire Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus (1993). The supernatural comedy, even though it's not a musical, features Winifred, backed by her sisters Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy), performing a rousing version of Screamin' Jay Jackson's 1956 hit “I Put a Spell on You" at a town hall Halloween party in Salem.
She alters and expands the lyrics, and the song itself serves as a spell: As she warbles witchily, she puts them under a spell that makes them keep dancing:
Ah say Into pi Alpha Maybe Upendi!
“I Put a Spell on You” will have you singing, dancing, and wishing that a professional movie designer could make your next costume.
'Poor Unfortunate Souls' From 'The Little Mermaid'
Urusula the Sea Witch, whose deep contralto voice, shock of white hair, octopus figure, and ruby-red lips distinguish her from stereotypical Halloween witches, is probably more memorable than any crone in a pointy hat. And “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” her big number in The Little Mermaid, both the animated and live-action versions, is unforgettable, too.
Written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, and performed by Pat Carroll in the animated film (1989) and Melissa McCarthy in the live-action movie (2023), “Poor Unfortunate Souls” is a mix of Broadway and burlesque that results in Ariel losing her voice. Unfortunate for the merfolk, Ursula and her song are fortunate for listeners who probably know all the lyrics, but here are a few anyway:
Those poor unfortunate souls So sad, so true They come flocking to my cauldron Crying, "Spells, Ursula please!" And I help them Yes, I do
This one's a little different because it's a classical composition. “Night on Bald Mountain" is featured in the final segment of Fantasia (1940). But even the most sublime music can be frightening.
Written by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839-81), “Night on Bald Mountain” is the perfect accompaniment to the bat-like, shadowy, nocturnal devil Chernabog summoning ghosts, vultures, demons, harpies, and other creatures from atop a sinister mountain, then tossing them into fire.
Rest easy, however, because at the end of this harrowing sequence, Chernabog et al. retreat when the scene segues into sunrise, and monks appear who march to the tune of Schubert's heavenly “Ave Maria.”
A barbershop quartet for Halloween? Yes, when the foursome are statue busts vocalizing in a graveyard. “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” a familiar tune to anyone who's been on the Haunted Mansion attractions at Disney theme parks, is also part of the soundtrack to the first film based on the attraction, 2003's The Haunted Mansion.
Composed in the 1960s by Buddy Baker, with lyrics by Xavier Atencio (the title itself comes from a line in Shakespeare's poem "Venus and Adonis"), the a cappella tune makes for a harmonious Halloween:
When the crypt doors creak, and the tombstones quake Spooks come out for a swinging wake Happy haunts materialize And begin to vocalize Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize
'Friends on the Other Side' From 'The Princess and the Frog'
In The Princess and the Frog (2009), before the deep-voiced and delightfully devilish Dr. Facilier (Keith David) turns poor Prince Naveen into the titular amphibian, he sings this slick, brass- and Louisiana-inflected number about his powers:
I got voodoo, I got hoodoo, I got things I ain't even tried And I got friends on the other side
His “friends on the other side” are spirits who would fit right in to any Halloween crowd of mysterious otherworldly creatures.
