 Alf Clausen , who has scored most of the Simpsons music , began his work on the show with this episode . The first segment , " Bad Dream House " , was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Wes Archer . The voice of the house was provided by cast member Harry Shearer . Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky wrote the second segment , " Hungry are the Damned " , and Rich Moore directed it . Sam Simon wrote the third segment , " The Raven " , and David Silverman directed it . The segment was based on Edgar Allan Poe 's 1845 narrative poem " The Raven " . During production , Simpsons creator Matt Groening was nervous about " The Raven " because it did not have many gags , and felt it would be " the worst , most pretentious thing [ they had ] ever done " on the show . American actor James Earl Jones guest starred in the episode as a moving man , Serak the Preparer ( one of the aliens ) and the narrator of " The Raven " . He recorded his lines at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles . To get the right drooling sound for the aliens , Jones chewed on a cookie close to his microphone . 
