T-minus 3

It's the last day of the last weekend before Halloween -- do you have your tricks and treats ready to go?  Mine are bursting at their stitches, so ready or not, I'm letting one of my tricks slip out with today's song!

So you know how this weekend is a tribute to perhaps the eeriest city in the nation, right?  Well, although I do love New Orleans and all the songs that extol its spookiness, the real reason for this weekend's theme is that I also LOVE CHER. I don't mean that I love Cher ironically, or with the detached kind of appreciation that I might hold for, say, Neil Diamond; I really, truly, from the bottom of my black little heart LOVE CHER.  I think she's a great artist and a national treasure and should perhaps be on our money one day.

So what could be better than Cher singing a New Orleans-based spooky song that's suitable for Halloween listening?  Why, an animated Cher singing a New Orleans-based spooky song that's suitable for Halloween listening, of course!  "Dark Lady" comes from her 1974 album of the same title and was written by a member of surf rock group The Ventures.  The story concerns a woman who goes to see a fortune teller in New Orleans, from whom she learns about her lover's unfaithfulness.  Although Cher sings from the perspective of the cheating victim, in the cartoon she's the fortune teller, which makes for a bit of a meta-Cher experience.  I mean, who else could pull off being the yin to her own yang?  Cher today, Cher forever!