Ant and I both have some pretty odd, eclectic musical tastes. About forty percent of the songs in my current Winamp playlist are in some foreign language (Japanese, Cantonese, Romanian, Korean, Spanish, Irish, a little French rap) that I can't understand or can understand only imperfectly; meanwhile, I have about a gazillion acapella songs, tons of stupid novelty items (MC Hawking, anyone?) and classical pieces, several dozen video game soundtracks, and a bunch of songs that I downloaded or otherwise acquired merely for their ability to make other people's skin crawl (Ant turns all green and squeamish every time I play Henry Mancini's depressing theme to TV's Newhart, for example, which is usually good for a laugh). Neither of us place a huge emphasis on where a particular piece of music might have originally come from: with few exceptions, if we find a song catchy or interesting in some way, we're usually down with it, regardless of whether the artist happens to be a dork or a loser or a complete unknown.

The result of this is that songs like "Move Your Dead Bones", a bizarre and upbeat techno thrasher that was inexplicably featured on the Beyond Re-Animator DVD (third in the Re-Animator series of horror films, after Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator), frequently make their way into our top ten...to the embarrassed chagrin of our families and friends, who would probably prefer that we stick with U2 or some other boring mainstream group.





No foolin', though: "Move Your Dead Bones" is perhaps the greatest and catchiest song the world will ever hear. Performed by "Dr. Re-Animator", a strong-jawed blond Eurotrash-lookin' dude with some effeminate mannerisms (a Google search turned up no real clues as to the singer's real name or identity, not that I'm particularly interested anyway), the song and music video are included on the DVD for no reason that I could readily perceive, short of the fact that it makes up for the DVD's other lackluster features and the crappiness of the film itself (according to Ant, this is not some of Jeffrey Combs's finest work).

Anyway, the music video shows a few clips from the movie, accompanied by the labcoat-wearing Dr. Re-Animator's manic dancing (a few presumably re-animated ghouls appear towards the end to back him up). The music video is all right, but the song is the real draw here. Dr. Re-Animator, in his scratchy, grumbly voice, implores the casual listener to "move your dead bones" to an urgent techno beat:

If you're feeling dead I'll be your Re-Animator
I've got a way to bring you to life
A superior existence with no one to control you
Where you can always do what you like

Let me give you some green color
And you will ask for more
You will see that you've never felt this way before
Party without limits, have sex and don't be blue
Freedom is eternal for you, you, you!

Move your dead bones, bones, bones
Move your dead bones, bones, bones
The secret will keep you alive
Move your dead bones, bones, bones
Move your dead bones, bones, bones
You'll dance for the rest of you life
Re-animate your feet!

It's simply brilliant. There's no other way to describe it.

Bear in mind, the key to appreciating the song is to not take it too seriously; I've read some reviews of the Beyond Re-Animator DVD that have sarcastically declared the song and music video to be even more terrifying than the movie itself. These people really need to lighten up (specifically, I would recommended that they try re-animating their feet). It's hilarious and catchy and fun, even taking into account the laughable lyrics and Dr. Re-Animator's dubious singing abilities. How big of a psycho do you have to be to think up something like this?

You can download the first minute and a half of the song by right-clicking here.

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