Nothing says “cool” like Steve McQueen. And nothing says “Steve McQueen’s first movie” like “The Blob“. From 1958, The Blob was a silly little creature feature about a gigantic gelatinous blob that devours humans and eventually a whole city. The zany concept started off as a B-movie but was so popular that it became a box office hit and launched the career of hunk McQueen. I like that the trailer says the cast includes “exciting young people”, as if someone turned to their friend and said “Holy crap, I like exciting young people! Let’s go see this!”
But it’s the song that plays over the opening credits, “The Blob” sets the mood just right. It’s ridiculous. Some vaguely Spanish-sounding guitar, a snazzy sax line, and the sing-songy lyrics set the tone for the silliness ahead.
It creeps, and leaps,
and glides and slides across the floor,
right through the door.
W. ShakespeareThe Blob
The song is credited to The Five Blobs, who famously included Mr. Burt Bacharach. Just getting started in his storied career, Bacharach wrote the tune with Mack David (who composed the Cinderella song “Bibbidi-bobbidi Boo“!) The band was put together by session musician Bernie Knee, who played on over 5000 songs (crikey!)

The song was released as a single and made it to #33 on the Billboard charts in 1958. It is on pretty much every single Halloween compilation you can purchase these days, certainly providing Mr. Bacharach countless $2 checks every autumn. I first heard this on the Rhino compilation “Halloween Hits”, which, though short, is still one of my favorite Halloween records.
