After considerable head scratching, I’ve determined that the very first song that I was really into came from a Disney 45. I couldn’t have been more than 3. I can still recall the jacket depicting the Headless Horseman holding aloft the flaming Jack-o-lantern. It was cool and scary.
I don’t recall how this record came to be in my possession. I can only imagine that I saw that cover on a shelf some place and convinced my mother to buy it for me. What an appealing piece of art. I don’t remember seeing the actual Disney feature The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow but I recognized this image when I found it online.
I had one of those bouncy horses that I’m sure came from my grandparents. You know the dangerous old plastic horse, scaled to my size and mounted to a metal frame with high powered finger pinching springs. I used to spend a considerable amount of time wearing a cape, riding that horse and listening to this song. I’d imagine myself terrorizing quiet little post colonial villages.
I’m sure that I didn’t understand the full meaning of the lyrics. I just liked the ominous sound of the singer’s voice [is this the late great Thurl Ravenscroft of Mr. Grinch fame?] and that it was about ghosts, banshees and such. I mean “Some don’t even bother to wear their skin”. How cool is that to a three year old? I knew enough of the story to get the significance of the bridge in the picture but for me it was all about galloping after somebody and scaring the crap out of them.
Even at three years old I can remember being asked what I was going to be when I grew up. At that point in my life I was determined to be a Headless Horseman. I didn’t have it all planned out or anything. I didn’t know which colleges I should look into for Headless Horseman training. I just knew that I wanted to race down old overgrown country lanes at midnight and throw flaming pumpkins at people.
While this one song doesn’t really play too much into my overall Musical Evolution, I felt that I had to start here as this was most likely the absolute first song that I ever loved. Of course, at that age, my choices and ability to express them were limited. It could have been any number of songs that my parents selected for me. I just feel that this one had to come from me. Here is the first dot in the timeline.
After a quick look online at http://allthingsthurl.com/ not only did I discover that this is indeed the late great Thurl Ravenscroft, his site provides an mp3 version of this song. Add it to your media library today! Thurl had an amazing and distinctive voice. Rest in peace Mr. Ravenscroft.