Zombie: The Musical

September 27, 2006 6:33 AM

NotReallyPlaylistFilter: Help me find songs for "Zombie: the Musical".

I'm not just looking for songs that have the word zombie in them, but songs that would go along to tell the tale of a zombie outbreak and the humans' fight to survive. The songs don't have to even be about zombies at all, but just fit with the theme of fear, survival, infection, etc. We'll want a mix of serious/dramatic songs and fairly campy ones, as it's obviously a rather silly concept to begin with. Some songs will likely be sung, others just played over the action. We've come up with a few (Including "Re: Your Brains" and "I Will Survive") and a few that wouldn't really work (like The Cranberries' "Zombie").

Bonus points for a sentimental zombie's ballad, or anything from They Might Be Giants. Have at ye!

posted by luftmensch to media & arts (42 comments total)

I should probably state that a "Thriller" dance number is on the list as well.
posted by luftmensch at 6:37 AM on September 27, 2006

How about "I Put A Spell On You" by Screamin Jay Hawkins? If that ain't a good zombie song, I don't know what is.
posted by spicynuts at 6:47 AM on September 27, 2006

Monster by The Automatic.
The (annoyingly catchy) chorus is:
"What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?"

Apocalypse Please by Muse
"Declare this an emergency
Come on and spread a sense of urgency
...
This is the end of the world"
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:52 AM on September 27, 2006

D.O.A. by Bloodrock. If you find it let me know where.
posted by Gungho at 6:54 AM on September 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

Monster Mash? "Spooky"? Lots of corny halloween-y stuff from the 60s.


"Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter Group? It's an instrumental but might be funny to people who recognized it.
posted by dagnyscott at 6:55 AM on September 27, 2006

Several of the songs, including the title song, off Inzombia, the album by Slant 6, would do.

These Monsters Are Real by Heavens to Betsy might do, the songs about sexual abuse, but talks about it mostly through monster images.
posted by OmieWise at 7:00 AM on September 27, 2006

Oh, you might also go for Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth by The Dead Boys. Both artist and song title work.
posted by OmieWise at 7:01 AM on September 27, 2006

Of course, Zombie Zoo by Tom Petty.
posted by neustile at 7:05 AM on September 27, 2006

Sufjan Stevens - They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!
posted by ktrey at 7:05 AM on September 27, 2006

She's Not There, Time Of The Season, or Tell Her No could also work.
posted by ktrey at 7:06 AM on September 27, 2006

All You Zombies - The Hooters
posted by iconomy at 7:11 AM on September 27, 2006

Night of the Living Dead by the Misfits

But Dawn of the Dead by the reformed Misfits is much much campier.

Also, my long ago friends the Brickbats did a song called Zombie Flanders
posted by Brainy at 7:30 AM on September 27, 2006

Shout at the devil by Motley crue
posted by TwilightKid at 7:38 AM on September 27, 2006

"Ghost Town" -- The Specials

(Shawn of the Dead had the idea first though)
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:44 AM on September 27, 2006

"Eat My Brain" by the Odds

"Cemetary" by the Headstones (Went down to the cemetary lookin' for love. Got there and my baby was buried; I had to dig her up.)

"Dead Bodies" by Air

"Body Movin'" by the Beastie Boys

"She's Not Dead" by Suede

"Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo

"More Human Than Human" by White Zombie

"Death Defier" by Limblifter

"Fried My Little Brains" by the Kills

"Til My Head Falls Off" by They Might Be Giants

"What Went Wrong (In Your Head)" by Supergrass

and of course:

"Walking in the Sun" by the Zombies
posted by Robot Johnny at 7:48 AM on September 27, 2006

Stayin' Alive - The Beegees
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:53 AM on September 27, 2006

"Zombie Jamboree," total camp.
posted by robinpME at 8:01 AM on September 27, 2006

"Butcher's Tale" by (wait for it) the Zombies. The song's lyrics and tone may fit in with what you're doing here.
posted by hermitosis at 8:01 AM on September 27, 2006

"Ouch" by Be Your Own Pet, which is explicitly about a Zombie Apocalypse, and, in fact, contains the lyric "Zombie apocalypse will (change us all?) now!" Or maybe "chase us all down!"
posted by jessenoonan at 8:02 AM on September 27, 2006

If you're just goofing around, and not really trying to stage a real (that is, original) musical, you might be interested in Young Zombies in Love, a musical about, well, young zombies in love. They have two songs available as mp3 downloads, if you don't have money to spend.
posted by 23skidoo at 8:28 AM on September 27, 2006

"Beheaded" by the Offspring. He talks about beheading friends and family, having a bloody mess all over his clothes, etc. Though it wasn't written that way, it would make sense in a zombie context.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:34 AM on September 27, 2006

Oh, and youtube has the finale to the Joan of Arcadia episode about a zombie musical called Queen of the Zombies. (The lyrics don't get really very zombiesque until the very end.)
posted by 23skidoo at 8:42 AM on September 27, 2006

I suggest putting No More Room in Hell early in the mix, indicating the initial Zombie invasion, it made the cut for my fall mix this year.
posted by SteveFlamingo at 8:55 AM on September 27, 2006

Not quite a fit, but perhaps amusing Girlfriend In A Coma, by The Smiths.
The Misfits: Skulls, Astrozombies, Die Die Die My Darling, Mommy, Can I Go Out & Kill Tonight?, Night of the Living Dead, Ghouls Night Out, Braineaters
posted by Sara Anne at 9:36 AM on September 27, 2006

I really have to suggest Infidel Zombie by the Dickies, or I think I will lose my Mefi privleges.

Braineaters by the Misfits is also a good one:

Brains for dinner, brains for lunch
Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch
Brains at every single meal
Why can't we have some guts?
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:37 AM on September 27, 2006

I Walked With a Zombie- Roky Erickson. Or really anything from Roky has that horror tinge to it. I second Braineaters by the Misfits. Perfert song to capture the rambunctious spirit of zombies everywhere.
posted by rodz at 9:44 AM on September 27, 2006

"Walking With a Ghost" by Tegan and Sara
posted by OneOliveShort at 9:49 AM on September 27, 2006

You can't have a zombie musical without rock:

L7 - Pretend We're Dead
Faith No More - From Out Of Nowhere
AC/DC - If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Jam - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight
posted by blag at 9:50 AM on September 27, 2006

Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie as well....

Anything from the remake of Dawn of the Dead (a phenomenal soundtrack that included When the Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash and Down with the Sickness by Richard Cheese)

5 to 1 and The End by the Doors
posted by griffey at 9:56 AM on September 27, 2006

Big Zombie by the Mekons.

This website also lists some: http://ilx.wh3rd.net/thread.php?msgid=6741059
posted by allen.spaulding at 9:59 AM on September 27, 2006

Zombie Jamboree - Rockapella (as robinpME said)

Zombies from Hell - T-ride (AKA Rock and Roll Zombies from Hell) Speaks to worldwide destruction from zombies.
posted by quin at 10:27 AM on September 27, 2006

"Dead or Alive" by Oingo Boingo
"Dig My Grave" by They Might Be Giants
"No One Lives Forever" by Oingo Boingo
"Que Sera, Sera" by Pink Martini
posted by RichardP at 10:34 AM on September 27, 2006

Zombina and the Skeletones
posted by Ariadne at 11:21 AM on September 27, 2006

"Zombie" by Fela Kuti pokes fun at the mindlessness of soldiers.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:22 AM on September 27, 2006

My Beloved Monster by The Eels could be a love song between a human male and his zombie girlfriend.

Many Oingo Boingo songs would work (Danny Elfmann loves to sing about death). Off the top of my head:
Dead Man's Party (zombie party!)
Same Man I Was Before (post-zombiefied personal contemplation?)
Flesh N Blood (holding out against getting eaten?)
Skin (contemplation of lingering humanity in friend/lover who has become a zombie?)
posted by witchstone at 11:39 AM on September 27, 2006

Skavoovie and the Epitones have, on their album The Growler, "Zombie Song." Apparently, you can listen to it here.
posted by Alt F4 at 1:19 PM on September 27, 2006

Jeffrey Lewis - If you Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul

Is all about a zombie emergency!

And is also quite a good song...
posted by gergtreble at 3:50 PM on September 27, 2006

Zombie: the Musical

It's been done. Okay, so Zombie Prom is more zombies + Footloose + the fifties, but I think you'll find some good, useful stuff in the cast recording -- and most of the tracks are really funny. I hear the cast recording can be hard to get, but if you can wait, you may have more luck getting the soundtrack from the movie (which I didn't know existed until I searched just now).

Songs include "Blast from the Past" (resurrection of zombie), "Where Do We Go from Here?" (love song between zombie guy and living girl), "How Can I Say Goodbye to Love?" (zombie doesn't want to surrender girl), "Easy to Say" (girl isn't sure if she should get with zombie), and my personal favorite: "Jonny, Don't Go to the Nuclear Plant," about which nothing more can be said.
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:40 PM on September 27, 2006

Our project likely won't be a full-length musical, and I think I'd rather try my best to stay away from "Zombie Prom," so it doesn't end up too alike. I know it wasn;t the most original idea, but I'd still like to avoid ripping off anyone in particular.
posted by luftmensch at 5:23 PM on September 27, 2006

Fever
posted by BoscosMom at 8:24 PM on September 27, 2006

Speaking of zombie musicals, don't forget the super-awesome Evil Dead: The Musical. I saw it about 2 years ago in Toronto, and it was amazing.
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:10 AM on September 28, 2006

Zombie Crush - Groovie Ghoulies
posted by Aznable at 4:00 PM on September 28, 2006