Take Me to Jail I Do It Again
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" | ||||
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Single by Napoleon XIV | ||||
B-side | "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" | |||
Released | July 1966 | |||
Recorded | 1966 | |||
Genre | Novelty, comedy | |||
Length | 2:10 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. #5831 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Due north. Bonaparte (Jerry Samuels) | |||
Producer(s) | A Jepalana Production | |||
Napoleon XIV singles chronology | ||||
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B-side | ||||
Audio | ||||
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" on YouTube | ||||
"!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" on YouTube | ||||
"They're Coming to Have Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a 1966 novelty record written and performed by Jerry Samuels (billed equally Napoleon XIV), and released on Warner Bros. Records. The song became an instant success in the The states, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 popular music singles chart on August xiii,[1] No. i on the Cash Box Top 100 charts, No. 2 in Canada, and reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[2]
Lyrics [edit]
The lyrics appear to depict a human's mental anguish subsequently a break-upwardly with a woman, and his descent into madness leading to his committal to a "funny farm" (slang for a mental hospital). It'due south finally revealed in the terminal line of the tertiary poesy that he's not beingness driven insane past the loss of a adult female — only past a runaway dog: "They'll find you lot yet and when they practise, they'll put you in the ASPCA, you mangy mutt". According to Samuels, he was concerned the record could be seen equally making fun of the mentally ill, and intentionally added that line then "you realize that the person is talking almost a canis familiaris having left him, not a man". Said Samuels, "I felt it would cause some people to say 'Well, it'south alright.' And it did. It worked."[3] [iv]
Song construction and technical background [edit]
The song is driven by a snare drum, tambourine and manus clap rhythm. The vocal is spoken rhythmically rather than sung melodically, while the vocal pitch rises and falls at fundamental points to create an unusual glissando effect, augmented by the sound of wailing sirens.[four] [five]
According to Samuels, the vocal glissando was achieved by manipulating the recording speed of his song track, a multitrack variation on the technique used by Ross Bagdasarian in creating the original Chipmunks novelty songs.[four] At the time the song was written, Samuels was working every bit a recording engineer at Associated Recording Studios in New York. Samuels discovered he could use a Variable Frequency Oscillator to alter the 60 Hz frequency of the hysteresis motor of a multitrack tape recording machine in guild to raise or lower the pitch of a voice without changing the tempo. This gave him the thought for a song based on the rhythm of the erstwhile Scottish tune "The Campbells Are Coming". Subsequently recording a percussion track at the standard speed, he played it back through headphones while recording the vocal on another track and gradually adjusting the VFO and the pace of his vocals to produce the desired effect. Some tracks were treated with intermittent tape-based echo effects created by an Echoplex. Samuels besides layered in siren effects that gradually rose and brutal with the pitch of his vocals.[half dozen] [v]
B-side [edit]
Continuing the theme of insanity, the flip or B-side of the single was only the A-side played in contrary, 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 equally "Xiv NAPOLEON". Nigh of the characterization affixed to the B-side was a mirror paradigm of the forepart characterization (every bit opposed to simply being spelled backward), including the letters in the "WB" shield logo. Only the label name, disclaimer, and record and recording main numbers were kept forrad. The opposite version of the vocal is non included on the original Warner Bros. album, although the championship is shown on the front embrace, where the title is really spelled backward.[7]
In his Volume of Rock Lists, rock music critic Dave Marsh calls the B-side the "most obnoxious vocal always to appear in a jukebox", saying the recording once "cleared out a diner of 40 patrons in two minutes flat."[8]
Airplay [edit]
The vocal charted at No. iii on the Billboard Hot 100 charts on August 13,[1] No. 1 on the Cash Box Pinnacle 100 charts on July thirty, No. 2 in Canada, and reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.[2]
Within weeks of its release, WABC and WMCA stopped playing the song in response to complaints about its content from mental wellness professionals and organizations.[9] The BBC likewise refused to play the song.
Warner Bros. Records reissued the original single (#7726) in 1973. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 87 merely stalled at No. 101 at the Calendar week Ahead charts which was an addition to the Cash Box Acme 100 charts. The reissue featured the "Burbank/palm trees" label. As with the original release, the labels for the reissue'due south B-side also included mirror-imaged print except for the disclaimer, record catalog, and rails main numbers. The "Burbank" motto at the top of the characterization was besides kept frontward as well as the "WB" letters in the shield logo, which had been printed in reverse on the originals.[10]
Chart history [edit]
Chart (1966) | Top position |
---|---|
Commonwealth of australia (Kent Music Study)[11] | 40 |
Canada RPM Top Singles[12] | two |
Britain[thirteen] | 4 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] | 3 |
U.S. Greenbacks Box Top 100[14] | i |
Sequels [edit]
"I'm Happy They Took Yous Away, Ha-Haaa!" was recorded by CBS Radio Mystery Theater cast member Bryna Raeburn, credited equally "Josephine 15", and was the closing track on Side 2 of the 1966 Warner Bros. album. (Josephine was the name of the spouse of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.)
In 1966, "They Took You Abroad, I'g Glad, I'thou Glad" appeared on These Are the Hits, You lot Lightheaded Savages by Teddy & Darrel [fifteen]
A variation of "They're Coming to Take Me Abroad, Ha-Haaa!" was too washed by Jerry Samuels, from that same anthology entitled Where the Nuts chase the Squirrels, where Samuels, towards the terminate of the track, repeats the line: "THEY'RE TRYING TO Bulldoze ME SANE!!! HA HA," before the song's fade, in a fast-tracked higher vocalism.[16]
In 1966, KRLA DJ "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/Simply they'll never come up take me away, 'cos I'm O.K./I'yard normal." Some other line in the song was: "I consume my peas with a tuning fork." The record was credited only to "The Emperor".[17]
In 1988, Samuels wrote and recorded "They're Coming To Go Me Again, Ha Haaa!", a sequel to the original record. Information technology was included on a single two years subsequently the Collectables label. Recorded with the same beat equally the original, and portraying Napoleon XIV relapsing to madness afterwards existence released from an insane asylum, information technology never charted, and was combined with the original 1966 recording on side A. (Both sequels are included on Samuels' 1996 2d Coming album.) In the song, the singer is released from the insane asylum, now deeply resentful of his time in the "loony bin" and "rubber room" and vowing to seek revenge on an ape by swinging it by its tail; he is still not fully cured of his insanity and is paranoid that he volition be re-institutionalized. Towards the terminate of the song, he relapses into the "funny subcontract" and "happy home"—until when reality sinks in, he cries out at a fast tracked double vocalization with the words: "OH NO!!!" before the vanquish ends with a door slam, indicating that he has been locked up in the insane asylum.[18]
The recording appeared on disk releases by Dr. Demento in 1975 as role of Dr. Demento'south Delights,[19] [twenty] then in subsequent Dr. Demento LP records released in 1985, 1988 and 1991.
Comprehend versions [edit]
Many comprehend versions of the song were recorded following the song's release in 1966. Kim Fowley released a cover of the song as his 2nd unmarried, after "The Trip".[21] [22]
References [edit]
- ^ a b Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top xl Hits, Billboard Publications, 1983.
- ^ a b c Joel Whitburn's Tiptop Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
- ^ Richard Crouse (26 April 2000). Big Bang, Babe: Rock Trivia. Dundurn. pp. 91–. ISBN978-0-88882-219-two.
- ^ a b c Richard Crouse (15 March 2012). Who Wrote The Volume Of Love?. Doubleday Canada. pp. 70–. ISBN978-0-385-67442-3.
- ^ a b "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa by Napoleon 14". SongFacts.com. SongFacts. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ Walter Everett (9 December 2008). The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". Oxford University Press. pp. 485–. ISBN978-0-19-029497-seven.
- ^ Paul Simpson (2003). The Rough Guide to Cult Pop. Crude Guides. pp. 23–. ISBN978-i-84353-229-3.
- ^ Marsh, Dave; Stein, Kevin (1981). The Book of Stone Lists. Dell Publishing. p. 80. ISBN978-0-440-57580-1.
- ^ "They're Coming To Take Me Abroad, Ha-Haaa! Napoleon XIV". Songfacts.com. Songfacts. Retrieved xviii June 2019.
- ^ Ace Collins (1998). Disco Duck and Other Adventures in Novelty Music . Berkley Boulevard Books. pp. 210–211. ISBN978-0-425-16358-0.
- ^ Become-Set up National Summit 40, 5 Oct 1966
- ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-08-15. Retrieved 2018-08-sixteen .
- ^ "Official Charts Visitor". Officialcharts.com. 1966-08-10. Retrieved 2018-08-16 .
- ^ Cash Box Summit 100 Singles, July 30, 1966
- ^ "The Hits of 1966, With a Lisp (MP3s)". wfmu.org . Retrieved 2021-11-03 .
- ^ "1000-Audio Fast Track MKII USB Audio Interface". Guitar Center. 2011-12-29. Retrieved 2016-09-29 .
- ^ "Emperor Hudson". Kfxm.com . Retrieved 2016-09-29 .
- ^ "Door Slam Sound Effects, Door Slam Sounds, Door Slam Sound Effect, Door Slam Sound Clips". Sfxsource.com . Retrieved 2016-09-29 .
- ^ "Billboard's Recommended LPs". Nielsen Business concern Media, Inc. (xv November 1975). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 72–. ISSN 0006-2510.
- ^ Newsweek. Newsweek, Incorporated. October 1975. p. 86.
- ^ Colin Larkin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Bus Printing. pp. 2178–. ISBN978-0-85712-595-eight.
- ^ "International news reports". Nielsen Concern Media, Inc. (20 August 1966). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 55–. ISSN 0006-2510.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27re_Coming_to_Take_Me_Away,_Ha-Haaa!
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