SPOOKYSONGS

Cry Little Sister – Gerard McMann

“Cry Little Sister” has become a staple of Halloween playlists, which is odd because it’s from a summer vampire movie, and the song isn’t about anything remotely Halloween, and it never even had a music video… but yet it lives on, and it works.

in 1987, the world watched in rapt ecstasy the opening scene of The Lost Boys, in which we glide over the pacific ocean at night, right into an amusement park, where something evil is lurking in the shadows. The pulsing drums, the off-time keyboard orchestra stabs, and the anguished chorus of “cryyyyyyyyy little sister…” followed by a haunted children’s choir reciting vague commandments. It all sets the perfect tone for a summer teen movie gone bad. It’s the complete antithesis of “Cruel Summer” in Karate Kid.

sad!

happy!

So, yeah, stuff goes down (not the least, the sexy sax man Tim Cappello), and vampires and Kiefer Sutherland does stuff and says Michael (and sounds like KITT saying “Michael”). But what about that song? That haunting haunting incredible song? I would argue that without it, the movie fails to set the right mood and loses its whole appeal.

Gerard McMann was a session musician and throughout the 70s. He formed a short-lived band cleverly called “Gerard” that had a minor-minor-minor hit with “Hello Operator“, which sounds like it could be the theme to any mid-70s sitcom, and then went back to studio sessions.

He did get a song on a KISS album, but unfortunately it’s from what is widely regarded as the worst KISS album (I disagree, but…), Unmasked, called “Is That You?“. It’s ok. After that he started making movie soundtrack songs and became as a “go-to” guy for soundtracks. But then, “Cry Little Sister” happened.

Joel Schumacher had asked for a song for a film, and McMann and Mike Mainieri worked on the song. Mainieri had the beat, and McMann started writing lyrics to fit the mood of the hypnotic drums and orchestra stabs. They came up with the spooky chorus, and had a song. The song isn’t about vampires, as McMann wasn’t told what the film was. Schumacher heard it and said instantly it was the theme song, even though it’s vaguely about a brother and sister declaring their love for each other, rather than vampires terrorizing an amusement park. But it worked!

Thou shall not fall

Thou shall not die

Thou shall not fear

Thou shall not kill

After that, McMann continued soundtrack work and now works under the moniker G TOM MAC. The song is on pretty much every “spooky playlist”, both for its tie-in to a horror flick and the general spookiness of it – that organ break in the middle is like the Phantom of the Opera and Yanni had a sexy mustache child.

The song has been covered by Marilyn Manson, Chvrches, Dee Snider (for his Van Helsing’s Curse project), LA Guns, and sampled by Eminem, Krayzie Bone, and many others. To me none of the covers hit that same punch that McMann gets on those choruses. Oh well, they tried.

Wish more people covered Tim Cappelo… but how could you?

Sploosh