It's Only Pretend by Robin And The Giant

Instead, we have focused on the fun elements of Halloween and, most importantly, the theme of spending family time together.

Below is a more detailed description of each song. We hope you enjoy listening to this CD as much as we enjoyed creating it!

“It’s Only Pretend” – The title song for this collection sets the mood and sums up the message to children that “all that spooky stuff is only pretend.” This is one of two songs from our original radio special I mentioned earlier. The opening dialogue, complete with sound effects and spooky music, made this especially fun to do.

“Back In Neewollah” – The credit for the idea of this song goes to Robin. If you haven’t already figured it out, “Neewollah” is “Halloween” spelled backwards. The story in this song tells of a place called Neewollah where no one has any fun and it simply makes living there a dismal experience. This is the other song from the radio special we recorded in the mid 1990s.

“The Pumpkin Patch At Druid Hills” – This is a true story. There is a church in our hometown of Ocala, Florida called Druid Hills United Methodist Church. The district where the church is located used to be called “Druid Hills” but all references to that old name have since disappeared with the exception of the church. Every October the church has a HUGE pumpkin sale to raise money for the church. Many people make it an annual event to take their children to the church “pumpkin patch” to get the pumpkins that they will use for the upcoming Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays.

“Scary Stuff” – Can you tell we had fun recording this one?!! The dialogue is about half of the recording and the music and sound effects that accompany our spoken part were a lot of fun to create. The song itself was kept very basic.

“Candy Duty Dan” – This just might be the cutest song in this collection. Dan is five years old and so he can’t stay out late like the older kids. HOWEVER, he CAN be the “keeper of the candy” and his Mom and Dad are letting him know that his “candy duty” is very important.

“Run Like Jackie Joyner” – This is a song about a young girl named Angela who decides she is tired of being overweight when her friends make fun of her costume, one Halloween, of an Olympic Running Superstar, like Jackie Joyner. So, she throws away all her Halloween Candy and from that moment on she eats more healthy choices and exercises. One year later Angela participates in the annual “Scarecrow Run” and her friends all remark at how great she looks. At the end of the race she sees a young girl who reminds her of herself a year earlier and the girl asks Angela the secret to success. Angela replies, “Run like Jackie Joyner.”

“Heloise O’Lantern” – Jack O’Lantern has a sister named Heloise. You know her. She is the little pumpkin in the Thanksgiving Cornucopia! The reason you can’t see her face is because it is bowed while saying grace! Now you know!

“Halloween Suite” – Instead of “Trick-Or-Treatin’” some people go to a musical recital called “Halloween Suite.” This waltz-like tune offers the suggestion that some traditions may be adhered to while others are thrown away. The song also sticks to one of our universal themes of doing things as a family.

“Hijinx Serenade” – This is an instrumental complete with dissonant musical phrases, sound effects, and some good-old-fashioned haunting music! Boo!

“Beast Row Bistro” – Every Halloween Party should have a buffet area filled with food that gets re-named something creepy just for the fun of it. An “alligator ear” is a dried potato, a “bucket of mud” is the new name for a bowl of beans. You get the idea. Nothing being served is what it seems! This is a boogie-woogie beat song.

“Thank You For Sharing The Moon” – This is a poem written and recited by Robin. It is a beautiful story of a boy named Anthony who is deaf. The other children learn that “even though he is different, he really is not” and have some fun making shadow puppets with their hands in the moon light. We originally tried to set these words to the music accompanying the poem but this spoken version worked out better and serves as a nice ending to our collection.

Happy Halloween!

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