10 - Imagining an Undead Carnival: Psychobilly Fantasies of an Idealistic Afterlife
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2024
Summary
Zombie baby, will you be mine?
I love your rotting flesh, until the end of time.
I won't ever let you go, won't let them take my baby to the grave.
Zombie baby, I love so much.
You pledged your heart to me, it stopped beating, but so what?
I won't ever let you go, won't let them take my baby to the grave.
I watched as Mickey Finn of Cold Blue Rebels romantically crooned the above lines from ‘Zombie Love’ like a 1950s teenage idol while the rest of the band provided ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ to complete the doo-wop harmonies. The audience joined in as the musicians then played in unison the iconic minor melody from Chopin's ‘Funeral March’. We all recognised this sonic signifier of death and chuckled at the musical joke. As the song shifted to a more upbeat tempo, two go-go dancers dressed as zombies shook and shimmied until bits of scabby, rotting (prosthetic) flesh started to fall off. Neither a decomposing body nor an unbeating heart will stop the narrator from loving his zombie baby. The chorus conveys his undying love (pun intended?):
Oh zombie baby,
Take my hand, but don't take a bite
Oh zombie baby,
A love like this just has to be right
Oh zombie baby,
You’re turning blue and you’re starting to rot
Oh zombie baby,
They say it's sick, but I still think you’re hot!
In the official music video for this song, zombie couples appear to have the time of their lives (or rather, the time of their undeaths?) at Horror High's Class of 1957 Senior Prom. Some couples hold each other tight for a romantic slow dance – just not too tight, or they might accidentally pull off the arm of their loved one. Others stumble forward, moaning with outstretched arms – the stereotypical zombie shuffle – until they can rest their arms on their partner's shoulders and sway slowly back and forth, like awkward teenagers at a school dance. They pose for photographs in their blood-stained formal attire and spike the punch with formaldehyde. Some of the guys even try to get a little ‘handsy’, probably hoping their rotting hand won't fall off before they can cop a feel.
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- Music and DeathFuneral Music, Memory and Re-Evaluating Life, pp. 184 - 195Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023