Spoofing the Singalong: Sipping Spiders Through a Straw: Campfire Songs for Monsters by Kelly DiPucchio and Gus Grimly

A-campin' we will go,
With monster friends in tow.
Hi-ho, the scary-o,
We dare you to say no.

We'll fill your nights with fear.
We'll rip your tent and sneer.
Hi-ho the scary-o,
We're glad you made it here.

Collaborators Kelly DiPucchio and Gus Grimly have a surefire kid pleaser in their new collection of silly. slightly scary campfire songs, Campfire Songs For Monsters (Sipping Spiders Through A Straw) Set to childhood standards such as the title takeoff of "Sippin' Cider Through a Straw," these are songs kids will love to sing at summer camp, family camping trips, backyard sleepovers, Halloween shindigs, or just any time when they feel like giggling through some silly songs.

Here's a sample chorus from "Home, Home of the Strange," set to (you got it) "Home on the Range:"

Home, home of the strange,
Where the feared and the freaks come to play.
Where the stench in the air
Comes from goon underwear,
And the kids are all pasty and gray.

And here's a bit from "My Darling Frankenstein," tune borrowed from "My Darling Clementine:"

In the kitchen, in the castle,
Filled with mold and turpentine,
Lived a baker, monster maker,
And her true love, Frankenstein.
Oh, my crispy, oh, my crunchy,
Oh, my frosted Frankenstein.
You're so yummy, in my tummy,
My delicious Frankenstein.

Serve with monster cookies!

Then there's this anthem to the national pastime:

Take me out to the graveyard,
Take me out to the tombs.
Buy me some worms from that Quasi named Jack.
I don't care 'bout that hump on his back.
So it's 'Boo, boo, boo,' for the bone team.
If they don't win, then they're lame.
For it's 'one, two, three bites, you're out,'
At the old graveyard game.

The parodies never seem to stop, from the grossout "Blow, Blow, Blow Your Nose," and "For He's a Stinky Old Fellow," to the simply silly "I've Been Running Over Road Toads" and "If You're Scary and You Know It." Gus Grimly adds his signature comic spooky cartoons to create just the right atmosphere for this spoofy spookarama of spectral songs. It's a hoot to run through these ditties, even in the daylight, but hang some ghosts, bats and owls about, or start up your bonfires at dusk, and have yourself a haunted hootenanny!