My Favorite One Hit Wonders of the 60s: Haunted House (#10)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (62063)
United States
July 13, 2016 2:43pm CST
We're at it again! For three decades now (that's how many decades we've done, not how many years we've been at it) @teamfreak16 and I have looked at our favorite one-hit wonders. After the 80s and 70s our next stop in the way back machine is the 1960s. (Stay tuned, by the end of the year we'll be doing the 1840s. 
). Here's my first entry.
#10: Haunted House - Jumpin' Gene Simmons
When I suggested we move to the 60s I posted Leapy Lee's "Little Arrows," saying it was basically a coin toss between that song and this one. Thanks to the numerous covers by the likes of Ray Stevens and John Fogerty (the latter as the Blue Ridge Rangers), I opted for this one.
And, to be truthful, this one big hit was in itself a cover of a 1958 R&B song by Johnny Fuller.
This song is about a man who buys a house and quickly discovers it's haunted. Something tells him to leave, but he declares, "I'll be here when the morning comes, I'll be right here and I ain't gonna run, I bought this house and you know I'm boss, ain't no haint gonna run me off." (If you're wondering, "haint" is probably a southern misspelling of "haunt" and is a term for a ghost.)
Having dealt with the ghost, the next morning, as he's cooking breakfast, he's visited by something "from outer space." The being proceeds to "eat the raw meat right from my hand, and drank the hot grease from the frying pan" just to prove he's tough. Again the homeowner stands his ground.
"Haunted House" reached #11 on the Billboard charts in 1964, just before those four guys from Liverpool took over. Simmons never had another hit.
But he does live on, even though he only had this one hit and died in 2006. A young musician by the name of Gene Klein was looking for a stage name. He took "Simmons" after Jumpin' Gene. Mr. Klein went on to co-found, under his new stage name "Gene Simmons," the band Kiss.
And even they didn't run Jumpin' Gene off from the haunted house!
Haunted House
Written by Bob Geddins
Recorded by Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Released as a single, 1964
Here's Jumpin' Gene Simmons' only hit:
). Here's my first entry.
#10: Haunted House - Jumpin' Gene Simmons
When I suggested we move to the 60s I posted Leapy Lee's "Little Arrows," saying it was basically a coin toss between that song and this one. Thanks to the numerous covers by the likes of Ray Stevens and John Fogerty (the latter as the Blue Ridge Rangers), I opted for this one.
And, to be truthful, this one big hit was in itself a cover of a 1958 R&B song by Johnny Fuller.
This song is about a man who buys a house and quickly discovers it's haunted. Something tells him to leave, but he declares, "I'll be here when the morning comes, I'll be right here and I ain't gonna run, I bought this house and you know I'm boss, ain't no haint gonna run me off." (If you're wondering, "haint" is probably a southern misspelling of "haunt" and is a term for a ghost.)
Having dealt with the ghost, the next morning, as he's cooking breakfast, he's visited by something "from outer space." The being proceeds to "eat the raw meat right from my hand, and drank the hot grease from the frying pan" just to prove he's tough. Again the homeowner stands his ground.
"Haunted House" reached #11 on the Billboard charts in 1964, just before those four guys from Liverpool took over. Simmons never had another hit.
But he does live on, even though he only had this one hit and died in 2006. A young musician by the name of Gene Klein was looking for a stage name. He took "Simmons" after Jumpin' Gene. Mr. Klein went on to co-found, under his new stage name "Gene Simmons," the band Kiss.
And even they didn't run Jumpin' Gene off from the haunted house!
Haunted House
Written by Bob Geddins
Recorded by Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Released as a single, 1964
Here's Jumpin' Gene Simmons' only hit:
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2 people like this
2 responses
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
14 Jul 16
Don't remember it, but that's pretty funny. And we're off!
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
13 Jul 16
I have an excuse for not knowing this one: I was too young and the song wasn't played on oldies but goodies radio my mother had a fondness for. This song could have been a good one for a Halloween song countdown. There is a rockabilly bounce to it.
1 person likes this
