They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
| "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" | ||||||||
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Cover of the Rhino Records co. re-issue of the WB album
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| Single by Napoleon XIV | ||||||||
| B-side | "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" | |||||||
| Released | July 1966 | |||||||
| Format | 7-inch single | |||||||
| Recorded | 1966 | |||||||
| Genre | Novelty, comedy | |||||||
| Length | 2:10 | |||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. #5831 | |||||||
| Writer(s) | N. Bonaparte (Jerry Samuels) | |||||||
| Producer(s) | A Jepalana Production | |||||||
| Napoleon XIV singles chronology | ||||||||
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"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" is a 1966 novelty record by Jerry Samuels, 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 13 August and reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
Jerry Samuels was a recording engineer at Associated Recording Studios in New York at the time when the song was written. He was able to alter the pitch of a recording without changing the tempo, using a device called a variable-frequency oscillator (VFO) - for example, making voices higher or lower. From this came the idea for a song based on the rhythm of the old Scottish tune "The Campbells Are Coming".
The lyrics describe the effect on the mental health of an individual after a break-up. The main character seems to be addressing an ex-girlfriend, and describes his descent into madness after she has left him. However, the last verse of the song alludes to his dog running away.
His paranoid thinking makes him believe that he is being pursued by "those nice young men in their clean white coats" (i.e., psychiatric attendants) who are coming to transport him to the funny farm/happy home (i.e., mental hospital), and he welcomes them as an end to his misery.
The recording is set primarily to a rhythm tapped on a snare drum and tambourine. The performer speaks rhythmically rather than singing the lyric, and the sparse, multi-tracked looped percussion track features a siren sounding in and out of the "chorus". According to Samuels, the vocal glissando was achieved by Samuels manipulating tape recording speeds, a variation on the technique used by Ross Bagdasarian in creating the original Chipmunks novelty songs. In addition, a siren is heard when the voice gets higher, and then, dissipates when it's back to the regular voice.
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Wikipedia