Boris The Spider (1966) – The Who

Much as the urban legend of mentally disturbed individuals who began placing razor blades, pins and needles in candy withered the once thriving neighborhood traditions of Halloween, John Entwistle’s monomaniacal fascination with a spider likewise depicts fiendishness incarnate . . . well, at least from an entomological perspective.

A thumping bass line yo-yos about like an arachnid on its silken web, bobbing in carefree locomotion as Entwistle describes his fixation on the little critter which makes its way across the room. With a guttural growl he dubs it Boris, mimicking its “creepy, crawly” movement in a puckish falsetto. Yet, despite Entwistle’s engrossment, poor Boris meets a grim fate, squashed flat, courtesy of a good old-fashioned book-slammin’.

Around these parts, the streets were never again bustling with trick-or-treaters, either.

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