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

"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"
Song
B-side	"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"

"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a hit 1966 novelty song by Napoleon XIV (aka Jerry Samuels).

History

Released on Warner Bros. Records, the bizarre depiction of mental illness, which was about a patient who is bemoaning the loss of his wife or girlfriend who ran away, became an instant hit in the United States that summer, reaching number three 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," though this interpretation of the identity of the being that has left is pure conjecture. 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. 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.

The record was also a success in United Kingdom, reaching number four 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 when the singer's dog/wife (or girlfriend) left him. 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".

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 simply 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. (In his Book of Rock Lists, rock critic Dave Marsh calls "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" the "most obnoxious song ever to appear in a jukebox", saying the tune once "cleared out a diner of forty patrons in three minutes flat.")

Sequels

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 dog'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 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.

The Monkees' song "Gonna Buy Me a Dog" from 1966, which is sung by Mickey Dolenz, teased it during the fade out by Davy Jones, when he says: "THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE IT AWAY, HA HA", twice. It's been unclear whether Jerry Samuels sued the Monkees for quoting this line without his approval or permission.

Another answer song, "They Took You Away, I'm Glad, I'm Glad" by "Josephine", was released as a single on Valiant Records. The B-side was the same song performed by "Josef". The disc jockey, Dave Hall, did a spoof on the song with a similar beat, entitled "I'm Normal", with crazy lines used including "I eat my peas with a tuning fork"

Cover versions

The song was covered by Lard on their album The Last Temptation of Reid in 1990.