Song Of The Day 10/31/2016: Ted Cassidy – “The Lurch” (+ "Wesley")

Halloween Week -- Happy October 31. Or Halloween, even. I wanted to throw something big and foreboding to you today; happily, as so many do, I stumbled over Lurch. This was the basso-extra-profundo butler character from The Addams Family, played on the classic TV series by 6'8" actor Ted Cassidy, who in that interview clip comes off as James Coburn with a knack for nice shirts.

As happened to the best of us who played iconic, outsized comic characters in the 1960's, Cassidy recorded a novelty dance record called "The Lurch," kind of a Smokey Robinson/Curtis Mayfield knock-off written by novelty/pop/country master Gary S. Paxton ("Monster Mash," "Alley Oop," "Along Comes Mary"). The steps to The Lurch appear unusually complicated for a dance craze, although that may be a personal reflection of my own limited choreography skills. I'm sure the limber kids of the '60s were able to pull this off without a hitch. And so did Cassidy, as evidenced by his unveiling of the song on the music show Shindig:

Bonus track: I always wonder what goes on the B-side of these hyper-novelty one-off singles. In this case, it's a sweet narrative by Cassidy as a normal, non-indentured guy called "Wesley." No Halloween content.