This is an All Ears English Podcast, episode 2292.
You can't go wrong with these Halloween songs.
Welcome to the All Ears English Podcast.
Downloaded more than 200 million times.
Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection.
with your American hosts, Lindsey McMan, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish .com forward slash subscribe.
Halloween is coming up soon.
Sometimes knowing how to reference songs is even more important than being grammatically correct in English.
Today, we dive into the spooky world of Halloween music so that you can get the cultural knowledge you need to connect.
To unlock up to $30 the capital voucher and exclusive invites to themed activities.
Special bonuses await when you conquer all the missions.
So enjoy endless fun and rewards at capital landlords in the West.
Let's shop to the top.
Hello, Michelle. What's shaking?
What's going on? Hey, Lindsey, not too much.
How's everything going with you?
Well, I know that Halloween is coming up very soon.
So are you planning on trick or treating this year, Michelle?
Um, I just actually guys.
There's an Instagram post that I made about what I think I'm going to be for Halloween.
It's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Oh, my gosh. I have something to say about that.
I just discovered that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were created in Dover, New Hampshire, where my parents live.
And I just, on Friday, I went to the place where the idea was conceived.
The house has been torn down, but like they have a commemorative sewer top thing where they've said, like, yeah, there's a whole thing is just like random little town in New Hampshire.
These two guys came up with the idea in their home and just went to a conference and it blew up.
So it's a local. Yes, that's all.
Well, your claim to fame.
That's kind of cool.
Yeah, so sorry, but I just had to say because I was just doing herding out on Friday all about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
That's the fact that two guys in a basement could just create this idea.
I don't know. It's crazy.
And it's I mean, it's a classic now.
So, yeah, I did a whole Instagram post about it.
But yeah, so Halloween is coming up and my son is definitely obsessed with the Ninja Turtles.
He doesn't even watch it that much, but he has a Ninja Turtle backpack.
And we had him meet Michelangelo at this local restaurant.
He was dressed up and he had him sign his backpack.
And so, but so, Ed, what about you any Halloween?
Well, I was just it's remarkable that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have stayed so popular since we were kids.
You know, that's wild.
Gosh, that's incredible.
No, I don't know what I'm doing yet for for Halloween.
I will have to see.
We will have to see.
I'd like to dress my dog up.
You know, sometimes it's just a given wings or something.
I don't know. Yeah, yeah.
So well, that would be adorable, of course.
Lindsay, guys, we want to tell you that at the end towards the end of this episode, we are going to be doing a Spotify poll.
If you are listening on Spotify, you can interact with us because we will give out a Spotify question related to this episode.
And then we get to see your answers.
And then we will read them on an upcoming show.
The results. Yes, I am excited.
So Halloween, you know, I think you'd say love it or hate it kind of thing generally.
Most people either love it and go crazy or they're just kind of not into it.
They don't feel it.
Michelle sounds like you love it.
Is that right? Or no, no.
Not so much. Like, I'm fine with it.
I wouldn't say that.
You're in between. Yeah, I'm in between.
I don't really like scary movies, scary things, but I like I like the spirit.
And I you know, it's a fun time of year.
So I I do enjoy that, but I'm not huge on it.
What about you? I think especially if you have kids, that's the thing.
Yeah, I'm really not a big Halloween person.
You know, yeah, like I said, dressing up my dog, that could be kind of fun.
If I get an invite to a party, I'll go.
But I'm not going to spend like two weeks planning my costume.
I'm just like, no, I've got a lot to do.
What going on? Right.
Right. I love seeing people.
I mean, some people already have their costumes prepared.
And I love that. Some people are super into it and more power to.
Yeah. Right. Yes. Or power to exactly.
So but what about Halloween music?
Do you like any Halloween music?
There are some good ones.
There are some good ones that come to mind like Monster Mash, you know.
Sure, sure. When you walk into a Halloween party, you expect to hear Halloween spooky music.
Yes, yes, exactly. Well, Lindsay, do you remember any of your Halloween costumes from growing up?
Yes, I was such a nerd when I was like in fifth grade, I decided I was going to be a computer.
And so I made a box and like cut myself into the box cardboard box.
But then I realized I couldn't get into my classroom door.
And oh, my gosh, the way kids think it's just so funny.
So, yeah, I had to take my computer off and then I didn't have a costume.
So during the day, so.
Oh, no. Oh, that's very cute.
That's a good story.
So what so you mentioned mentioned Monster Mash.
I mean, when you think of Halloween, when I say Halloween music, because that's the first one that pops into your head.
Kind of. Yeah. I mean, wasn't that from a movie?
Was that from what?
The Addams family? No, no.
Because they have been in a movie.
Yeah. All right. That's true.
Yeah, that's true. We didn't talk about it.
We didn't. Addams family.
Yeah. I mean, Ghostbusters.
People love that one.
Right. Any others that come to mind for you?
Well, yeah, we're going to talk through them.
I mean, for me, the the one that pops into my head right away is Thriller.
By Michael Jackson.
That's my school did a thriller dance every year.
And it was amazing.
And then also Dan and I were on our first vacation together way back when.
And there was a thriller flash mob that you could participate in.
And he did it secretly.
I didn't I didn't know that he I don't know how he did it.
But yeah, he secretly was a part of this flash mob.
So that's pretty good formed.
Yeah. So but yeah, I remember announcements also for class starting with Thriller.
Right. Did you have the school announcements in the morning, the morning and now we always had those yes over the loudspeaker.
Uh huh. So I remember they always played the beginning of Thriller and you know, the beginning of Thriller because they're yeah.
It starts out with the door slamming and the scary noises.
Yeah. And it always freaked me.
Scary stuff. But Michael Jackson, I mean, so famous, right.
These are icons, these songs.
And there's another one by Michael Jackson.
What's that one, Michelle?
Well, so we're basically going over the purpose of today's episode, guys, is to share a little bit about Halloween.
And also we want to share with you these songs.
We have talked about famous songs in the past and had had fun on other episodes talking about music and songs.
So I wanted to do a Halloween themed one.
But right. Because this is so huge just for connecting for connection, 100 percent.
I mean, that and that's what we want to make sure you guys know.
It's not just the correct grammar and vocabulary that's going to connect you.
It's cultural knowledge and and being able to have had the experience of these songs, then talking about them, maybe singing them, quoting them references everywhere, definitely create connection.
And that's what we want for you is we want you to be connected because that's what makes us happy in life.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
So right. So we already talked about Thriller.
So Thriller. Oh, wow.
I don't know why I didn't have the year on Thriller.
I have to Google that real fast.
Somewhere in the eighties, probably right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.
And then we have somebody's watching me.
So that one might I actually thought it was just Michael Jackson.
But it's not. He sings in it.
But the artist is where do I have it?
Oh, Rockwell. Yeah.
So that was 1983. Yeah, the 80s were kind of the main time, I think 70s, 80s when Michael Jackson was publishing a lot of his famous songs.
So that one you're likely to hear as you walk into a Halloween party.
Right. You're going to hear in the US, you're going to hear these things.
Monster Mash, like we said, by Bobby Pickett from 1962.
Love that. Yes, Thriller was 1982.
So, yeah. 82. Oh, yeah.
He had some good stuff in the 80s, early 80s.
All right. And then what's another one, Michelle?
The another one is this is from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie.
And the song is called This is Halloween.
And that was from 1993.
OK, yes, yes. And I feel like that Nightmare Before Christmas goes back way further than 93.
But the song itself, I guess, is from 93.
Yeah, probably. Yeah, well, I don't know.
So anyways, you guys can look up the years below.
The point thing is, go listen to the music so you know, so you can feel familiar.
There's something about walking into a party when you know a song or when a song comes on the radio when you're at a party that makes you feel at home and opens you up to conversations and quoting and references and things like that.
Right. Right. Exactly.
So how can you use this to connect?
Right. First of all, guys, you got to go and listen to these songs.
So after you finish listening today to today's episode, go on over.
And it doesn't have to be all at once.
But but go on over and listen to these Halloween songs so that you'll know how to connect with people over these.
So I mean, one way to connect is we already did this.
We were asking somebody their favorite if we were asking each other our favorite Halloween song or or what is the here's a word, the quintessential a quintessential Halloween song.
What does that mean, Lindsay?
Oh, quintessential is such a good word.
It's going to be in the app for today's episode, for sure.
Quintessential is the most the most essential, the most key song that you think of that encapsulates Halloween as a concept.
That's quintessential.
OK, so right. You know, you could also have a version of this.
We could do another episode.
What's your favorite Halloween movie?
Right. Right. So it's music, movies, things like that cultural icons.
OK. Yeah. So asking someone like we said, what's your favorite Halloween song or then moving into Halloween costumes?
How are you going to be for Halloween this year?
Right. Yeah, just there's definitely it's a very popular topic in the US about what's going on with Halloween.
Also, just the fall in general with the hayrides and the corn maze.
And oh, yeah, apple picking.
It's a whole thing.
It's a whole thing.
It's fun. It's fun.
Activities in the fall.
When you see the foliage, sometimes in some parts of the country.
So there's a lot we could do here.
Right, Michelle? Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. So guys, before we get to the role play, we wanted to share something exciting that is coming soon.
Yes. It's not just Halloween that's coming soon.
That's exciting. It's also our brand new C1 fluency course.
Yes. I am excited to launch this brand new course.
We've been working hard on this over the last few months.
In this course, you're going to see interviews with five native speakers, all different people, interesting people.
You're going to learn from the connection method, which is means we take the real English from these interviews.
We had exercises, lessons, fluency goals.
Essentially, what we're going to do is we're going to make your English more nuanced, more colorful and more sophisticated.
Oh, it's a good time for colors, lots of bright colors.
We're going to add that to your language, too.
We're going to show you how to do it.
Yeah. Right. Right.
Exactly. You want to have, you know, your your language be varied, like like the fall foliage, right?
Reds and yellows. It just can't be monotonous, right?
Yes. And then there are some very exciting connection skills that you can finally have at the C1 level that we're going to show you how to do as well.
So, guys, get on the early list.
This is coming out in just a few weeks, but you want to be on that list to make sure you're the first to hear when it goes live.
So go to all ears English dot com slash C1 and get yourself on the list and you'll hear more about it very soon.
All right. Good. OK, awesome.
All right. And we're going to take a quick break.
And when we get back, Michelle, we're going to go into a role play where we bring in these songs.
Right. We show our listeners how to refer to these famous songs.
Yeah. Yep. Exactly.
All right. OK, Michelle, we are back for our role play.
What is the date of this conversation in this?
This conversation is taking place on October 20th.
And you work in a store and I am the customer.
Yes, usually costume stores are kind of a zoo week before Halloween, right?
Yes, exactly. All right.
Here we go. Welcome.
Can I help you find anything?
Thanks. Oh, wow. I love the Halloween music you're playing.
You can't go wrong with thriller.
Of course not. Have you been playing Monster Mash on loop in here?
Yes. I'm getting sick of it.
I love somebody's watching me, but maybe I'll play it and play it next.
Oh, or this is Halloween.
Definitely. Oh, my gosh.
That makes me think I just was in a restaurant on Saturday in Maine and someone's ringtone was the famous Mariah Carey Christmas song.
And I'm thinking, oh, I mean, I love that song.
Who doesn't? Right.
But it's too early already.
That is impressive.
So you have to be timely with these things.
Right. Oh, it's true.
That is very early.
Although it feels like everybody's ready for Christmas right after Halloween.
That's true. As soon as this ends, they go straight to Christmas, maybe a little Thanksgiving, but there's not much you can do there.
So right. Christmas for sure.
Right. Exactly. So here we're going to show our listeners, guys, how we bring in our quotes to these movies, how we refer to these.
These are references.
Right. Yeah. To the songs.
Sorry. I mean, songs.
Yeah. What did I say, Michelle?
What did I say first?
Well, you said because I said I love the Halloween music you're playing.
And you said you can't go wrong with thriller.
And that's a good construction.
Maybe we'll go into that another time.
You can't go wrong with something.
I 100 percent agree.
Michelle, let's write that down as a as an episode idea.
Guys, hit the follow button.
Very common construction when you you're endorsing something.
You're saying this was a great choice culturally, an icon, a movie, a piece of music, I don't know, a choice, some choice you made.
What you're serving for dinner.
Right. Yeah. Right.
Yes. Yeah. Really good.
So you can't go wrong with thriller.
Right. And then I said, have you been playing monster mash on loop in here?
OK, right. Sometimes I feel sorry for the people who work in these stores because they're hearing the same songs over and over and over.
So that's what we mean by on loop.
Means that it's just never stopping.
Yeah. Anything, anything you're exposed to on loop.
I mean, that's why I can never work in an ice cream shop.
I think I would hate ice cream.
The smell of ice cream.
I was just in a in an ice cream shop and I was asking, I was having a conversation with the owner about that, about if he just got sick of it and if he adds it all the time.
So I was thinking about that.
Interesting. It's not worth it.
It's not worth it. All right.
And then I said, yeah, I'm getting sick of it.
I love somebody who's watching me.
Maybe I'll play that next.
So we're brainstorming songs that would be fitting for Halloween time for the shop.
Yeah. Mm hmm. And I said, Oh, or this is Halloween.
Nice. All right. This is great.
So, Michelle, we really went through, you know, I think we showed our listeners how to do it, how to refer to these songs.
And we could do a follow up on a lot of aspects of like movies, how to refer to movies, things like that.
So let us know what you guys want to learn.
OK, yes, exactly. So guys, remember, we told you that we were going to do a poll on Spotify today.
So definitely after this episode, go listen to the songs or maybe you know them already.
And just tell us in the poll, your answer, which of these songs is your favorite?
So let us know, is it Thriller?
Somebody's watching me.
Monster Mash. This is Halloween.
Ghostbusters. Any other that we that I'm missing?
I mean, I think those five will be great, Michelle.
Right. Let's add Ghostbusters.
I'm not I don't want to influence the results, but I have a feeling I know which one is going to be chosen, but let's just see.
Let's wait and see.
Guys, make your voice heard on Allers English.
We will announce the results in another poll.
Right. Michelle in another episode.
Yeah. Yes, exactly.
All right. Well, Lindsay, any takeaways for today?
The takeaway here is connection is, you know, connection.
We are learning English on this podcast.
That's why we're Allers English, but we're learning so much more than that.
You need so much more than just correct grammar to connect.
And a big part of that is the shared experience of knowing these songs that can actually connect you faster than using the perfect grammar construction.
Right. Right. Yes. Yeah, that's that's great.
Oh, and guys, we want to let you know.
Sorry. We wanted to let you know also that we are going to have another Halloween episode on the Business English podcast.
So go on over to that because that's going to be super soon because Halloween is super soon.
Yeah. And go on over to the Business English podcast, hit follow and get that Halloween episode.
Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to learn about how Halloween shows up at work and what you should say at work, what you can say.
It definitely comes up.
But how does it do that?
Go over and check it out.
All right. Good stuff.
All right, Michelle, thanks for being on today.
Now I'm getting a little bit more excited for Halloween, so let's get ready.
OK, guys. Well, Lindsay, this was fun.
Bye. Have a good one.
All right. Have a good one.
Bye. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two minute quiz.
Go to all ears English dot com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.
