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They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!

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"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a 1966 novelty record written and performed by Jerry Samuels (billed as Napoleon XIV), and released on Warner Bros. Records. The song became an instant success in the United States, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 popular music singles chart on August 13,[3] No. 1 on the Cash Box Top 100 Pop Singles charts, No. 2 in Canada, and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[4]

"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
West German picture sleeve
Single by Napoleon XIV
B-side"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"
ReleasedJuly 1966[1]
GenreNovelty[2]
Length2:10
LabelWarner Bros. #5831
Songwriter(s)N. Bonaparte (Jerry Samuels)
Producer(s)A Jepalana Production
Napoleon XIV singles chronology
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
(1966) 		"I'm in Love with My Little Red Tricycle"
(1966)
Audio
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" on YouTube
"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" on YouTube

Lyrics

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The lyrics present a first-person narrator who appears to be addressing a lost love. He describes his deteriorating mental state in the wake of her departure, and expresses a somewhat twisted excitement about his impending committal to a "funny farm" (slang for a psychiatric hospital). However, the final verse reveals that the narrator's words are aimed not at a woman, but at a runaway dog.

"I cooked your food, I cleaned your house, and this is how you pay me back
For all my kind, unselfish, loving deeds... Huh?
Well, you just wait, they'll find you yet, and when they do, they'll put you in
The ASPCA, you mangy mutt! And…"

Samuels feared that listeners would find the song insensitive towards those with mental illness, and intentionally worded the last line so "you realize that the person is talking about a dog having left him, not a human". Said Samuels, "I felt it would cause some people to say 'Well, it's alright.' And it did. It worked."[5][6]

Song structure and technical background

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Samuels said he was inspired by the rhythm of the old Scottish tune "The Campbells Are Coming". The song is driven by a snare drum, bass drum, tambourine and hand clap rhythm. The vocal is spoken rhythmically rather than sung melodically, while the vocal pitch rises and falls at key points to create an unusual glissando effect, augmented by the sound of wailing sirens.[6]

According to Samuels, the vocal pitch shift was achieved by manipulating the recording speed of his vocal track, a multitrack variation on the technique used by Ross Bagdasarian in creating the original Chipmunks novelty songs.[6] At the time the song was written, Samuels was working as a recording engineer at Associated Recording Studios in New York. Samuels used a variable-frequency oscillator to alter the 60 Hz frequency of the hysteresis motor of a multitrack tape recording machine. He first recorded the rhythm track, then overdubbed the vocal track while slowing the tape at the end of each chorus (and reciting the words in time with the slowing beat), so when it was played back at normal speed, the tempo would be steady but the pitch of his voice would rise. Some tracks were treated with intermittent tape-based echo effects created by an Echoplex. Samuels also layered in siren effects that gradually rose and fell with the pitch of his vocals.[7]

B-side (!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT)

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"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"
 
West German picture sleeve
Single by Napoleon XIV
B-side"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
ReleasedJuly 1966[1]
GenreNovelty[2]
Length2:10
LabelWarner Bros. #5831
Songwriter(s)N. Bonaparte (Jerry Samuels)
Producer(s)A Jepalana Production
Napoleon XIV singles chronology
"I'm in Love with My Little Red Tricycle"
(1966) 		"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"
(1966)

Continuing the theme of insanity, the flip or B-side of the single was simply the A-side played in reverse, and given the title "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" (or "Ha-Haaa! Away, Me Take to Coming They're") and the performer billed as "XIV NAPOLEON". Most of the label affixed to the B-side was a mirror image of the front label (as opposed to simply being spelled backward), including the letters in the "WB" shield logo. Only the label name, disclaimer, and record and recording master numbers were kept frontward. The reverse version of the song is not included on the original Warner Bros. album, although the title is shown on the front cover, where the title is actually spelled backward.[8]

In his Book of Rock Lists, rock music critic Dave Marsh calls the B-side the "most obnoxious song ever to appear in a jukebox", saying the recording once "cleared out a diner of forty patrons in two minutes flat."[9]

Airplay

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The song charted at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts on August 13,[3] No. 1 on the Cash Box Top 100 charts on July 30, No. 2 in Canada, and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[4]

Warner Bros. Records reissued the original single (#7726) in 1973. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 87 but stalled at No. 101 at the Week Ahead charts which was an addition to the Cash Box Top 100 charts. The reissue featured the "Burbank/palm trees" label. As with the original release, the labels for the reissue's B-side also included mirror-imaged print except for the disclaimer, record catalog, and track master numbers. The "Burbank" motto at the top of the label was also kept frontward as well as the "WB" letters in the shield logo, which had been printed in reverse on the originals.[10]

Chart history

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Chart (1966) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 4
Canada RPM Top Singles[12] 2
UK[13] 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[4] 3
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[14] 1

Sequels

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"I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!" was recorded by CBS Radio Mystery Theater cast member Bryna Raeburn, credited as "Josephine XV", and was the closing track on side two of the 1966 Warner Bros. album (Josephine was the name of the spouse of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte).

A variation of "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" was also done by Jerry Samuels on the same album, titled "The Place Where the Nuts Hunt the Squirrels", where Samuels, towards the end of the track, repeats the line: "they're trying to drive me sane" before the song's fade, in a fast-tracked higher voice.[15]

In 1966, "They Took You Away, I'm Glad, I'm Glad" appeared on These Are the Hits, You Silly Savage by Teddy & Darrel.[16]

In 1966, KRLA disc jockey "Emperor Bob" Hudson recorded a similarly styled song titled "I'm Normal", including the lines "They came and took my brother away/The men in white picked him up yesterday/But they'll never come take me away, 'cause I'm okay/I'm normal." Another line in the song was: "I eat my peas with a tuning fork." The record was credited simply to "The Emperor".[17]

In 1988, Samuels wrote and recorded "They're Coming to Get Me Again, Ha-Haaa!", a sequel to the original record. It was released two years later, but never charted. In the song, the narrator has been discharged from the mental hospital but remains plagued by insanity and fears being readmitted. At the end of the song, he exclaims, "Oh, no!" following by the sound of a door slamming, signifying his confinement back within the asylum.[18]

The recording appeared on disc releases by Dr. Demento in 1975 as part of Dr. Demento's Delights,[19][20] then in subsequent Dr. Demento LP records released in 1985, 1988 and 1991.

Cover versions

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Many cover versions of the song were recorded following the song's release in 1966. Kim Fowley released a cover of the song as his second single, after "The Trip". Additionally, Sloppy Jane's cover from their 2015 EP Sure-Tuff reached notable success on TikTok as a sound byte in a variety of SFX/makeup transformation videos.[21][22]

References

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  1. ^ a b Savage 2015, p. 559.
  2. ^ a b Savage 2015, p. 543.
  3. ^ a b Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, Billboard Publications, 1983.
  4. ^ a b c Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  5. ^ Richard Crouse (26 April 2000). Big Bang, Baby: Rock Trivia. Dundurn. pp. 91–. ISBN 978-0-88882-219-2.
  6. ^ a b c Richard Crouse (15 March 2012). Who Wrote The Book Of Love?. Doubleday Canada. pp. 70–. ISBN 978-0-385-67442-3.
  7. ^ Walter Everett (9 December 2008). The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". Oxford University Press. pp. 485–. ISBN 978-0-19-029497-7.
  8. ^ Paul Simpson (2003). The Rough Guide to Cult Pop. Rough Guides. pp. 23–. ISBN 978-1-84353-229-3.
  9. ^ Marsh, Dave; Stein, Kevin (1981). The Book of Rock Lists. Dell Publishing. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-440-57580-1.
  10. ^ Ace Collins (1998). Disco Duck and Other Adventures in Novelty Music. Berkley Boulevard Books. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-0-425-16358-0.
  11. ^ Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1966 - Top 100 Singles
  12. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-08-15. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  13. ^ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. 1966-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  14. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, July 30, 1966
  15. ^ "M-Audio Fast Track MKII USB Audio Interface". Guitar Center. 2011-12-29. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  16. ^ "The Hits of 1966, With a Lisp (MP3s)". wfmu.org. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  17. ^ "Emperor Hudson". Kfxm.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  18. ^ "Door Slam Sound Effects, Door Slam Sounds, Door Slam Sound Effect, Door Slam Sound Clips". Sfxsource.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  19. ^ "Billboard's Recommended LPs". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 15 November 1975. pp. 72–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  20. ^ Newsweek. Newsweek, Incorporated. October 1975. p. 86.
  21. ^ Colin Larkin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. pp. 2178–. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  22. ^ "International news reports". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 20 August 1966. pp. 55–. ISSN 0006-2510.

Sources

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