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

Infobox Single
Name = They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!


Caption = Cover of the Rhino re-issue of the WB album
Artist = Napoleon XIV
from Album =
B-side = "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"
Released = July 1966
Format = 7" single
Recorded = 1966
Genre = Novelty
Length = 2:10
Label = Warner Bros. Records #5831
Writer = N. Bonaparte (Jerry Samuels)
Producer = A Jepalana Production
Certification = Jepalana Music Co., Inc. BMI
Chart position =

#3 (U.S.)

#4 (UK)
Last single = --
This single ="They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!"
(1966)
Next single ="I'm In Love With My Little Red Tricycle"
(1966)

"They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a hit 1966 novelty song by Napoleon XIV (aka Jerry Samuels). It has been called the #1 greatest novelty song. [ [http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-novelty.html 100 Greatest Novelty Songs ] ]

History

Released on Warner Bros. Records, the bizarre depiction of mental illness became an instant hit in the United States that summer, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.

However, it was highly controversial at the time. Some groups protested the apparent mockery of mental illness, while other groups attacked the apparent comparison of Napoleon's wife to a "mangy mutt". (Although the appropriate line can be taken as referring to the artist's missing dog- and this seems the more likely reading as there is also reference to the ASPCA) The protesters put pressure both on radio stations directly and on the stations' advertisers. This was especially felt in New York City, where Top 40 stalwarts WABC and WMCA soon dropped the record from airplay and skipped it during their countdown shows, much to the confusion of the young teens who made up a large part of those broadcasters' audience. The record was soon banned from airplay as BMI took the unprecedented step of withdrawing its certification. By the time it had been recertified by SESAC, it had all but disappeared from the Billboard Top 40 playlist. [Joel Whitburn, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", Billboard Publications, 1983.]

The record was also a success in United Kingdom, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

Song structure

The song, mostly set to a rhythm tapped out on a snare drum and tambourine, deals with mental illness, seemingly brought about by the singer's lover. The singer speaks rhythmically rather than singing the lyric, over a sparse, multitracked percussion track dominated by drum kit and tambourines with a siren sounding in and out of the "chorus". According to Samuels, the vocal glissando, signifying the vocalist's plunge into insanity, was achieved by Samuels manipulating tape recording speeds, a variation on the technique used by Ross Bagdasarian in creating the original Chipmunks novelty hits. Supposedly, the song's thumping beat derives from or was inspired by the Scottish marching song "The Campbells Are Coming".cite web
url = http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=675
title = "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa"
work = Songfacts.com
accessdate = 2007-01-27]

Furthering the theme of insanity, the flip or B-side of the single was called "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" and the singer billed as "NOELOPAN VIX". It was the A-side played in reverse; in fact, most of the label affixed to that B-side was a mirror image of the front label (as opposed to being spelled backwards), including the letters in the "WB" shield logo. Only the label name, disclaimer, and record and song master numbers were kept frontward. The backwards version does not appear on the original Warner Bros. album (or Rhino re-issue), although the title is shown on the front cover, whereas the title is actually spelled backwards.

Covers and other appearances

The song was a worldwide hit. Kim Fowley recorded a cover version produced by Mark Wirtz in 1966 which charted in Denmark and New Zealand. Shortly after, German act Malepartus II released "Ich glaab, die hole mich ab" (I think they're coming to get me) in Hessian dialect on Telefunken's record label. Mexico's Los Ovnis recorded the song "Napoleon XIV" in Spanish the same year. Tiny Tim has allegedly recorded a cover of this song, but the only copy is said to be in the possession of author Samuels himself.

The Monkees, in a song on their first album, "Gonna Buy Me a Dog", include the refrain at the tail end of the song, shouted by Davy Jones.

In 1984, Dadaist experimental group Nurse with Wound used the lyrics to "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!" for the song "Burial of the Sardine" for a split single with Current 93, the latter band's David Tibet providing vocals. This version is far eerier than the original, sung slowly over implacable noises.

In 1990, Lard, the project band formed by Jello Biafra and members of Ministry, covered "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" on their "The Last Temptation of Reid" album.

In the early 1990s, musical parodist Paul Shanklin created a parody of "They're Coming to Take Me Away" for the "Ross Perot Update" frequently used by Rush Limbaugh.

"They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!" was also covered in a demo CD in 2001 by Stone Sour entitled "The Death Dance of the Frog Fish".

In 2002 French singer and media personality Amanda Lear recorded a cover of the song.

In 2005, Sascha Mario Klein of the futurepop/synthpop band Neuroticfish, covered "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa" on the album "Gelb". He created his version using the original lyrics and a bass line sampled from the theme of the BBC television series "Doctor Who".

A "Beavis and Butthead" episode entitled "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Huh Huh" references the song.

Avant-Garde cover band Taedium Vitae recorded a version of this song in 2003 which was released on their "Extended Play 2003" EP.

This song is sampled on Biz Markie's 2006 album "Make the Music with your Mouth, Biz".

Napoleon's Ghost recorded a new version in 2006, produced by Les Fradkin, that charted on Apple iTunes and Amazon.com. That new version also contained digitally manipulated, sped-up vocals.

The song is also performed by The Nervous Breakdowns of Vancouver, Canada on their 2007 album "Our God is Awesome!".

A short clip of this recording is used in the soundtrack of "Weyburn - An Archaeology of Madness", a 90-minute documentary of the controversial history surrounding the Souris Valley Mental Health Hospital in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

Heavy metal band Mudvayne use the term in their song Internal Primates Forever off their L.D. 50 album.

equels

Following the original song's success, Jerry Samuels wrote and recorded two sequels to it, titled "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!", (which is sung from the deranged singer's wife's point of view), and, much later, "They're Coming To Get Me Again, Ha Haaa!" (which sees the original singer slipping back into madness after being released from the insane asylum).Both songs were recorded with the same beat and tune as the original, but neither charted."I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!" was recorded by a female vocalist named Josephine XV, and was a featured track on the 1966 Warner Bros. album.(Both sequels are included on Samuels' 1996 "Second Coming" album.)

The original single was re-issued by Warner Bros. Records (#7726) in 1973, and eked onto the Billboard Hot 100 at number 87. The song appeared on disk releases by Dr. Demento in 1975 as part of "Dr. Demento's Delights", then in subsequent Dr. Demento LP's released in 1985, 1988 and 1991.

References