Remember Lurch? Lurch was the tall, creepy, handsome butler/servant/killer of the Addams Family. Portrayed on TV by Ted Cassid, Lurch became iconic for his terrifying baritone and general creepy-but-loyal servitude. In a way, he resembled Frankenstein’s monster, but without the campiness of Herman Munster. On the Addams Family, he mostly grunted or said simple phrases, but now and then he would spit out a full articulate sentence.

As a pop culture figure, it was only a matter of time before he crossed over to the music biz. There is incredibly scant information on how this song came about, but “The Lurch” was the brainchild of Gary Paxton, who also spearheaded “The Monster Mash” 3 years earlier, which was its own dance craze. I guess he thought The Lurch would be the new hotness. It wasn’t.

The highlight, of course, is the cheerful vocals offset by Ted Cassidy’s Lurch teaching them how to do a dance. What’s most crazy is there’s an actual “live” performance of this from Shivaree! You can actually see Lurch do the Lurch!

This isn’t the only Addams Family spooky song, of course. There’s lots more we’ll get to on the site, including The Addams Groove, Gomez, The Addams Family Theme, The Whoomp There It Is Addams Family song, man this show was just a treasure trove for gothic and creepy ephemera.

This was Ted’s only single. He was more of an actor and did lots of “tall guy being creepy” roles. Sadly, due to acromegaly, Ted Cassidy died in 1979 at the age of 46.

SPOOKY FACT! In 1965, the hottest dance craze in the land was “The Freddie”, based off a song by Freddie and the Dreamers… well, I know another Freddy and some Dreamers who did a marvelous cover of “The Freddie” in 1987. LISTEN. LOVE. LURCH.