Buck Owens put a whopping 21 singles to No. 1 on the Billboard country charts as the frontman of the country group The Buckaroos, but this Halloween song was unusually creepy and kitschy in his discography.
It was also one of his final Top 10 hits.
“(It’s A) Monsters’ Holiday” was recorded on October 30, 1973, but for some reason was pushed to country radio in the middle of summer the following year, Rolling Stone notes.
Fortunately, that didn’t seem to matter much. Cheesy as it was, it peaked at No. 6 by September of that year. The silliness was intentional — Rolling Stone says that it was targeted at children, and promoters even sent boxes of Halloween cereal favorites Franken Berry and Boo Berry to radio stations for an extra fun push.
The chorus calls out some of the more infamous monsters of the time:
“Frankenstein was the first in line, and the Wolfman came up next / Dracula was doing his stuff, a-breathing down my neck / Jump back, make tracks, here comes the Hunchback — better get out of his way / Fee fee fi fi fo fo fum, it was a Monster’s Holiday”
The LP it was released on shared its name, Monsters’ Holiday, but the novelty title track was the only Halloween song. It was cut with Owens’ Buckaroos bandmate and best friend Don Rich, who would die in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1974. As a sad result, the country star wasn’t truly able to revel in the song’s success.
Owens followed “(It’s A) Monsters’ Holiday” up with the final No. 1 song of his career, the iconic Dwight Yoakam duet “Streets of Bakersfield,” in 1988. In addition to his country music, Owens famously co-hosted the country-filled variety television show Hee-Haw for more than 15 years, from 1969-1986.
Buck Owens died in his sleep in March of 2006. He was 76.
