Napoleon XIV's one hit wonder "They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!" was released in 1966. It was a big hit but lost its momentum after many stations in the USA banned it because of the mental health theme. Basically, the song is about a guy losing his marbles after his dog disappears. It was quite clever at the time because of the new technology that allowed the change of pitch, as if being sped up, but without any change to the tempo - a technique that became quite common and annoying... chipmunks come to mind. While it is quite basic, and is nothing other than novelty, it still holds up quite well today.
The B-Side was the song played backwards. There a no satanic messages but it's freaky all the same. I'm tempted to playlist this on Bitter FM.
"!AAAH-AH ،YAWA ƎM ƎʞAT OT ʚИIMOƆ ƎЯ'YƎHT"
"They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!" actually had an answer song (I love answer songs) released the same year - it was from, who else? but Josephine XV. The song "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!" was from her perspective and used much the same song structure. One comment on Youtube about this song was "I think they took the wrong person away" and I can't disagree with that.
Josephine XV - "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!"
But wait there is more!
The Emperor (aka. Bob Hudson) released "I'm Normal" in the same year, still. It was more an imitation or parody than a cover version.
The Emperor - "I'm Normal"
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