Vampires & Music
Love Songs for Vampires
There are several different types of vampire love songs. “Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies is a song that tells a story of a vampire seducing a young woman to become his victim and turn her into a vampire as well. This song highlights the seductive quality of vampire lore.
As a whole, the song tells the story of a vampire luring a young woman away with promises of love and beauty and tempts her to join him forever as a vampire by his side. “You'll stay as beautiful, with dark hair, and soft skin...forever” vampire seduces his victim with promises of eternal beauty. This fits with the vampire trait of not aging. He makes the prospect of becoming a vampire something alluring, “I'll show you my dark secret".
Concrete Blonde's "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)" (1990) also deals with the seductive power of vampires and is influenced by more contemporary vampire works. The lyrics refer to New Orleans vampires and are a tribute to the works of Anne Rice.
It has a bit of a darker take and seems to refer to the narrator's past relationship with a vampire. The narrator reflects on the aftermath of being seduced by a vampire and the effects of the relationship, "Oh, you were a vampire, And now I am nothing at all".
Finally, "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri (2011) was written for the final installment of the Twilight saga and moves away from the seductive aspect of vampires and into the realm of the romantic vampire. The lyrics are a bit more subtle with the vampire references, with the most overt being, "I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more," referencing the agelessness and immortality of the vampire.
The official music video for the song uses scenes and images from the Twilight movies connecting the song firmly within the contemporary vampire narrative. This song is more of a true love song than previous entries to the vampire music industry and reflects society's changing values and how that has affected the vampire narrative.