Ballad of Dwight Fry (2:23)

Dwight Frye was a character actor known for his work in early classic horror movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein. His most familiar work was as the bug-eating “Renfield” who was Dracula’s man-servant, although he worked in many other films up until his death in 1944 at age 43. As a tribute to an actor he grew up watching in horror movies, Alice Cooper included a song entitled “Ballad of Dwight Fry” (without the final “e”) on their 1971 album Love It to Death. It is sung from the point of view of a character the actor might have played, a man in the throes of insanity who may have committed murder. One interesting note is that David Byrne of the Talking Heads cites this song as an example of what they were trying to create with their first single, “Psycho Killer.”