"Dead Man's Party" is a song by American band

Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave music, new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a Surrealism, surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and wri ...

, released as the third single from their album of the same name. The song was released on a 12" single in conjunction with another song from the album, "Stay," with the cover art touting it as the single's a-side, while the catalog number and some discographies consider it the single's b-side. An edited version of "Dead Man's Party" was featured in a promotional music video and was issued in 1986 as the b-side of the 7" single "Just Another Day", also culled from the ''Dead Man's Party'' album. The lyric, "I hear the chauffeur coming to my door/Says there's room for maybe just one more," is a reference to "The Bus-Conductor," a short story by

E. F. Benson Edward Frederic Benson (24 July 1867 – 29 February 1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer. Early life E. F. Benson was born at Wellington College (Berkshire), Wellington College in Berkshire, ...

about a hearse driver, first published in ''

The Pall Mall Magazine ''The Pall Mall Magazine'' was a monthly British literary magazine published between 1893 and 1914. Begun by William Waldorf Astor as an offshoot of ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', the magazine included poetry, short stories, serialized fiction, and ...

'' in 1906. The story has been adapted several times and spawned an urban legend, with each version using the catchphrase, "Room for one more." The song appeared in the movie ''Back to School'' with Oingo Boingo themselves performing the song in a cameo. Danny Elfman performed the song as the final encore of his '' Nightmare Before Christmas'' concerts at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...

in 2015, 2016, and 2018, and at

Banc of California Stadium BMO Stadium (formerly Banc of California Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and the National Women's S ...

in 2021, alongside his former Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger

Steve Bartek Steve Bartek (born January 30, 1952, in Garfield Heights, Ohio) is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the band Oingo Boingo and for his orchestration work with composer ...

."Danny Elfman, Billie Eilish provide new Halloween treats at sold-out ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ concert – Daily News"

Track listing

;12" single # Dead Man's Party (Party 'Til You're Dead Mix) - 8:37 # Stay (Stay Late Mix) - 5:59

Personnel

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...

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lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

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lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

John Avila John Avila (born January 14, 1957) is an American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995. John is currently touring with Walter Trout. Career Avila co-founded the music group Food ...

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bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

keytar A keytar (a portmanteau of ''keyboard'' and ''guitar'') is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held. Overview Though the ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Mike Bacich – keyboards * Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Sam Phipps Sam "Sluggo" Phipps (born on October 1st, 1953) is an American saxophone player, best known for being a member of the New wave music, new wave band Oingo Boingo. Early life Sam Phipps was born in Los Angeles, California. He played piano and tro ...

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tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Leon Schneiderman –

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

saxophones *

Dale Turner Dale Turner may refer to: * Dale Turner (cricketer), Australian cricketer * Dale Turner (trumpeter), American trumpet player with the American new wave band Oingo Boingo * Dale Turner (songwriter), American singer-songwriter, rock musician, and ...

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trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Michael Frondelli - mixing

References

{{authority control Songs about parties 1985 songs 1986 singles Oingo Boingo songs Halloween songs Songs written by Danny Elfman MCA Records singles