When I was a kid, novelty songs like this were popular. A new one would come out every so often and get way too much airtime. I remember Charlie Brown, Long Thin Jones, Television, Snoopy and the Red Baron, the Monster Mash, Alley Oop, The Witchdoctor, Purple People Eater, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, The Streak - so many.
The name of the performer is Napoleon the Fourteenth. XIV is Roman numerals. I was a kid when the record came out and it really appealed to younger kids like I was at the time. The B side was played primarily to piss off my parents. Even at the age of 10 I couldn't make it through the whole thing.
LOL!!!! Daniel... You're making me laugh! Side A was fun, cuz I heard that as a kid... BUT... YOUR reaction to Side B, makes me giggle snort! Thanks for this!
Loooooove this song from my childhood. It was actually banned on some stations. Kids everywhere loved it! His dog left him. That's why he was going to the ASPCA.
This song was played by Dr Demento. A sunday night Nationally syndicated show. He played a lot of parody songs. This includes a song called "dead puppies aren't much fun" and "existential blues" He was credited with giving the B52 there start by playing Rock lobster a lot.
This was released 2 years before I was born but I do remember hearing it on the radio many times. Once it gets in your head you'll be singing it all day. Thanks! 😊 lol
Omg....forgot about this weird song from the later 60’s . So strange to listen again in this era. Playing records backwards showed up with the Beatles. Sometimes it would be a secret message. This is from another time, another place. Psychology becoming popular. Before the closed mental hospitals. The Kennedy album pre 1964. Hello Mudda, Helllo Fadda. Not Halloween but it gives insight to the culture during the Kennedy era. FYI
"They're Coming to Take Me Away" was released in 1966 by the good, but rather demented folks at Warner Bros. Records. The played-backwards B-side label was also printed backwards, or more precisely, as a mirror image. As I'm sure someone will mention, the "XIV" of the artist's name are Roman numerals...."fourteenth."
My father sang this to my mother on their first date. He also, when they said goodbye told her he would marry her. They had been married nearly 40 years before she past away, so clearly the singing worked :)
I heard this song as part of a collection of kooky or 'goofy' songs called Goofy Greats from the mid 70's. Never heard it being part of the Halloween genre.
i had almost forgotten this song -- thank you so very much for bringing it back to me. i am old enough now that someday they will be coming to take me away -- no yet but someday. i think it is a funny song. people my age can start saying the words "they're coming to take me away" and friends will join in and finish it with you
In keeping with the Halloween theme, you should react to Deep Purple's "Vincent Price." It's an homage to the legendary horror movie actor, who also did the creepy spoken part at the end of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."
This was about I believe mental health. At one time, my mother had the 45. We would sit there and laugh, whenever she played it. And yes, we listened to the flip side too, and laughed even harder. These types of tracks were considered "novelty" songs back in the day. Something to have fun with...
I was a teenager when this song came out and we would all “sing” along with it, all of us screaming it out the car windows at the top of our voices. Just a crazy, insane, funny song! We all loved it! Lol.
My late father introduced me to this song lol. It was one of his faves lol. It was often on Dr Demento's show. We had 2-4hrs of comedy songs on the radio every week. It was the show that gave us Weird Al Yankovic, and the hit novelty song "Dead Puppies", as well. Some fun similarly minded songs would definitely be "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" by Julie Brown and "Voices in My Head" by Denis Leary ;) . For Halloween and Christmas fun you may want to remember the names Dr Demento, Ray Stevens and Bob Rivers. They'll actually come in handy ;).
LOL this was on one of the Doctor Demento's 20th Anniversary Collection a long long time ago. was meant to get laughs lol XD. Some others on there were "The Shady Lady of Shady Lane," "The Scotsman" (one of my favs), "Star Trekkin," "Existential Blues" and so so many more. it was great to listen to lol XD edit: I had to laugh when you didn't know what the crackling sound was on the reverse side. That's called a record, darlin'. That's what we had before 8track tapes, cassette tapes and CDs :)
Love it! There's certainly something to be said for novelty records (this one's not exactly a 'song' is it?). I used to listen to the syndicated radio show "Dr. Demento" back in the late '70s and early '80s. I even have a 6-record boxed set (autographed!) of his choices for the greatest novelty records of all time. You could easily do a full series on novelty songs like this one, as well as parodies. Psycho Chicken by The Fools vs. Psycho Killer by Talking Heads comes to mind. If you decide to try that one, please use this live version (seriously!): ua-cam.com/video/yikX1zBHJ60/v-deo.html and play the Talking Heads' original first, so you have a good basis for comparison. The king of parodies is (of course) Weird Al Yankovic - plenty to choose from there: Another One Rides the Bus vs. Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, Eat It vs. Beat It by Michael Jackson, etc. Have fun!
I bought this record when l was a boy. Loved it lol. It was a big hit at the time. Today l am sure people would be jumping all over it saying it was making fun of mental illness. Different world now. 🎼🎶🎵🇨🇦
Novelty songs were a big thing in the 60s and 70s. As others have mentioned, Dr Demento, on the radio Sunday nights, introduced us to all manner of crazy songs and other demented comedy. A boy named Alfred Yankovic also listened and tried his hand at novelty songs and sent his homemade tapes to Dr D, who played them on his show. This was the beginning of the 40+ year career of "Weird Al". While mostly known for his parodies, he has great original songs. For the Halloween theme try Nature Trail to Hell by Weird Al.
Oh man, I remember this. I was just a kid. A weird and kinda creepy novelty song. It wouldn't fly today because it stigmatizes mental illness. I always interpreted it as him calling his ex that left him a dog, an insult. Not that a dog made him crazy.
There used to be a radio show called "the Doctor Demento Show" that had hilarious stuff like this on it. I dimly remember it from my mostly inebriated youth.
Well that was a weird one :-) Never heard it before. For your halloween specials, be sure to include Scaretale by Nightwish! Probably the album version since it's an Anette-era song.
LOL what a great comedic tune!! What was with your camera? The first 25 seconds or so the video looked weird, thought it was going to be that way the whole video. "Weird song"....the understatement of the year! Daniel hears the needle on the record..."Weird static"...DUDE!!! A million years ago when ALL we had were records, you heard that on EVERYthing throughout the whole record...EVERY RECORD LOL!!! Ask your parents about it, they know of this ancient ritual. Weird dreams...Oh look, it's the men in white! LMAO!!! The voice change is made through pitch modulation...I can do it with my audio editing software program. What a cool reaction, song facts with cool information for the win!
The first track of the second side of the album is I'm Glad They Took You Away, by Josephine XV (15th) ua-cam.com/video/5m138-Fn5Tw/v-deo.html The entire album is made up of psychology related songs.
When you whispered, "Cthulu," it made me realize the reverse side of the record would make great ambient background sounds for a D&D dungeon crawl. Hmm... Gotta have a word with my DM.
I haven't heard this song in 60 years (or there abouts). Loved this as a kid when it first came out. A few suggestions for more Halloween music - The Who "Boris The Spider", Donovan "Season of the Witch", Bobby "Boris" Pickett "The Monster Mash", Warren Zevon "Werewolves of London", Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells", "The Phantom Of The Opera" (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor), Creedence Clearwater Revival "I Put A Spell on You" - are just a few suggestions.
Haha! This song came out when I was 12 years old. My friend and I went camping. The song was being played on the radio every hour. We got no sleep that night.
This one was weird in a good and funny way. You should do Frank Zappa & the Mothers: Cheepnis (live at the Roxy '73) - about cheap monster movies - suitable for Halloween 😊
Kim Fowley , producer of most of these Crazy Tunes , did Co Produce this early Frank Zappa work . Also on Freak Out .... Kim Fowley most known as Manager for GirlRock ,,The Runaways,,
Wow, awesome. I can't believe you did this, Daniel. Skid Row used to use this song as their intro tape at concerts in the 80s. You should listen to two songs by Nervous Norvus - Transfusion and Ape Call. Both really short, like this, but funnier. WAY funnier!
I was 12 years old when this was new. I heard it for the first time on a jukebox at the YMCA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I loved it. Since you could pay to play both sides, I did, And I loved it even more.
I always thought this song was fun and crazy. But I never thought it was a Halloween song. Daniel you should do something from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, like " Science Fiction/Double Feature " or " Time Warp "
There used to be a radio station affiliate called The Westwood One radio network, not sure if they are still on the air, and on Saturday nights, they had The Dr. Demento Show, he played novelty and off-the-cuff type songs and this was among those songs he played. On Friday nights, Westwood One had The House of Blues, where they played an hour of Blues, it featured Elwood Blues ( Dan Aykroyd ) as the DJ., from The Blues Brothers.
First time I heard this I was in high school. My clock radio came on at 6am and this was what the local radio station was playing. Woke me up that's for sure. I believe I still have the 45 in a box in the basement.
There were a LOT of "novelty" songs put out in the 60s and 70s, this is just one of them; it sounds almost the same in reverse! I remember kind of imagining that this was the Joker singing when I was little (it came out right about when the Batman TV show did). And - it's Napoleon the Fourteenth, BTW.
Those strange words are back-words. For Halloween I like 'Season of the Witch' by Donovan (no one reacts to his songs). Also loads of songs by Alice Cooper, 'I Love the Dead', 'Dead Babies', 'Go to Hell' (he did a concept album called Alice Cooper Goes to Hell), 'We're All Crazy', 'The Black Widow'.
In the SongFacts blurb you read, Daniel, Jerry Samuels mentioned a friend who helped him with the title of "The Campbells Are Coming." That friend, Barry Hansen, is Dr. Demento, on whose radio show on several LA stations throughout the 70s (and beyond) "TCTTMA" was played incessantly! But, Hansen/Dr. Demento was and did so much more! Around that same time (early '70s) Hansen was also employed by Burbank-based Warner Bros. Records (who, of course, released this Napoleon XIV record in '66) as a writer, and he was responsible for most of the content in the weekly Warner Bros. Records in-house publication, "Circular," which was an 8-page (or so) news/information/PR piece sent only to radio personnel and record industry folks. His writing was witty, sometimes wryly ironic, and often unabashedly hilarious. Hansen was also tasked with compiling and annotating the periodic double-LP samplers Warner Bros. made famously available throughout the '70s. Cheekily called "loss leaders" by the label, they were advertised on inner sleeves on every album released by the label. People could just send in $2 for each double album to hear many new full-length songs recently released by the Warners label family! The object was to introduce record-buyers to the label's new artists and their new songs through these double albums, and thus, promote sales. Hansen also wrote articles for the rock press in the '70s, including Rolling Stone, Hit Parader, and the jazz mag, Down Beat.
A song about a man whose dog has run away. He goes crazy because he wants his dog back. I fully understand this as I have two dogs that I love with all my heart! Listen carefully. It really is about a dog.
Comedy songs were popular around that time, check out "Snoopy vs the Red Baron", "Batman and His Grandmother", "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight".
About a million years ago Chuck Mangione did a song called "Give it all you've got". On his fun and games album he did a different version called "Give it all you've got , but slowly". It was the same song but to about half the tempo. Doing things like that weren't uncommon.
Wow you really dug into the dog pile for that one ..That song was a hoot when it came out . I remember we used to play it over and over. Of course it is a novelty spoof, . The static you heard was the crackle produced by vinyl records back in the day. Try the Monster mash by Bobby Pickett. The Phantom of the opera overture by Andrew Lloyd Weber , I put a Spell on you from the movie Hocus Pocus (Bette Midler, Ray Parker Jr "Ghost busters theme" Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London, Sheb Wooley "The Purple People eater" just to name a few.
i remember this on the am radio from a long time ago. along the same vein: Alice Cooper's "Nobody Likes Me" off the Easy Action album in 1971. for Halloween do leave out the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. "Time Warp". love your work.
Weird Al's genre of novelty or parody songs. There were lots of them but another one that springs to mind is (copied and pasted here) Shaving Cream" a song written by Benny Bell in 1946, and originally sung by Paul Wynn.[1] It is a novelty song where each verse ends with a mind rhyme of shit, the initial sh- segueing into the refrain, "Shaving Cream". It's pretty funny.
I forgot about this song. I had heard it, once, through an uncle of mine. For Halloween songs, definitely check these out: Iron Maiden - Still Life Mötley Crüe - You're All I Need Slayer - Dead Skin Mask Some newer band did a cover of this, but it's lame; It sounded like they were trying to hard to be cool. So, are you telling me that reality is backward? That seems accurate for a lot of it.
Roflmao!!! "What's that static?" It's called a vinyl record, Daniel. We used to ask "who's frying bacon?" 🤣
Got that grit in the grooves.
I know right?
It's just dirt, scratches or ware. Those were pressed in polystyrene so, they wore out a lot faster.
When I was a kid, novelty songs like this were popular. A new one would come out every so often and get way too much airtime. I remember Charlie Brown, Long Thin Jones, Television, Snoopy and the Red Baron, the Monster Mash, Alley Oop, The Witchdoctor, Purple People Eater, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, The Streak - so many.
A Lot of all that Wierd stuff came from Kim Fowley
I never heard of, "Television". Or, are you talking about the song by either Stan Freberg or Tom Lehrer?
This is what is called a "novelty song."
And as such, it was first made famous by Dr. Demento, who also gave Weird Al his start.
Except that it's not a song. Even the guy that wrote and performed it says it's not a song.
Fun fact.The "B" side of the single was this song played backwards.
LMAO!!! Seriously? That's hilarious!
@@joconnell8145 Yeah,I've still got it somewhere.Probably in the attic.
@@resin3100my Collector's item for sure!!
Did you find any messages?
Daniel played the B side too.
Daniel: I don't even know what to say. Laughed my butt off. This was bizarro. I remember when this came out - we loved it!
Same! Hahahahahahaha
The name of the performer is Napoleon the Fourteenth. XIV is Roman numerals. I was a kid when the record came out and it really appealed to younger kids like I was at the time. The B side was played primarily to piss off my parents. Even at the age of 10 I couldn't make it through the whole thing.
I can do some of it backwards.
Flying Purple People Eaters. Long haired one eyed Flying Purple People Eaters.
What a blast from the past.Your reaction made me giggle on a very dark dank day. Thank you.
LOL!!!! Daniel... You're making me laugh! Side A was fun, cuz I heard that as a kid... BUT... YOUR reaction to Side B, makes me giggle snort! Thanks for this!
Loooooove this song from my childhood. It was actually banned on some stations. Kids everywhere loved it!
His dog left him.
That's why he was going to the ASPCA.
I don’t think so. The girl that left him he is calling a fog and deserves to be put in the aspca.
I think the ASPCA comment was to call her ugly (a dog) and a "bitch"
I just heard him say that it was a girl that left him. Just before he wrote that he WAS going through a nasty divorce.
Doctor Demento used to play this.
Doctor Demento!!!!
Yes
@Epiphany Party I can totally see your dad doing that!
I remember listening to him! The song too.
Also Weirdsville radio
Look up the Monster Mash .
YES!! lol. He'll love that one 😉
Yup ..also Kim Fowley produced ... Check out his 1965 single ,,The Trip,, CRAZY Stuff !!
This song was played by Dr Demento. A sunday night Nationally syndicated show. He played a lot of parody songs. This includes a song called "dead puppies aren't much fun" and "existential blues" He was credited with giving the B52 there start by playing Rock lobster a lot.
Has anyone suggested Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London? Ahrooooo.
I was just going to suggest it but I didn't know who did it. Thanks for saving me the search :-)
Love that song 😄 “his hair was perfect” 😆😆
😂 There was a book about the life of Warren Zevon free on Kindle, so I learned more about him than is reasonable. It was not a quiet life.
His "Lawyers, Guns and Money" is better and much more appropriate for 2020!
I love L,G&M, but I suggested Werewolf for his Halloween theme.
This was released 2 years before I was born but I do remember hearing it on the radio many times. Once it gets in your head you'll be singing it all day. Thanks! 😊 lol
it's a reaction the whole 'backwards message' craze. I really think they were tongue firmly in cheek for this whole thing.
OMG! my high school played this every Friday at the last bell. I would leave school laughing, because I had no idea what this crazy thing was.
Omg....forgot about this weird song from the later 60’s . So strange to listen again in this era. Playing records backwards showed up with the Beatles. Sometimes it would be a secret message. This is from another time, another place. Psychology becoming popular. Before the closed mental hospitals.
The Kennedy album pre 1964. Hello Mudda, Helllo Fadda. Not Halloween but it gives insight to the culture during the Kennedy era. FYI
Actually, Hello Mudder was by Alan Sherman.
"They're Coming to Take Me Away" was released in 1966 by the good, but rather demented folks at Warner Bros. Records. The played-backwards B-side label was also printed backwards, or more precisely, as a mirror image. As I'm sure someone will mention, the "XIV" of the artist's name are Roman numerals...."fourteenth."
Same here, I totally forgot about this song.
@@richdiddens4059 yes....but it came out then ...or about that time period.
That was trippy! I never knew about side B before tonight.
Same goes for me
Every Sunday night it was Dr. Demento!
My father sang this to my mother on their first date. He also, when they said goodbye told her he would marry her. They had been married nearly 40 years before she past away, so clearly the singing worked :)
I heard this song as part of a collection of kooky or 'goofy' songs called Goofy Greats from the mid 70's. Never heard it being part of the Halloween genre.
i had almost forgotten this song -- thank you so very much for bringing it back to me. i am old enough now that someday they will be coming to take me away -- no yet but someday. i think it is a funny song. people my age can start saying the words "they're coming to take me away" and friends will join in and finish it with you
How did you not find yourself falling off your chair laughing your head off? Haven't heard this song since the 70s!
Bobby "Boris" Pickett/Monster Mash. This song was a # 1 hit twice! Many years apart in the 60's and again in the 70's.
Yes please Daniel give a listen to Monster Mash, ya cannot get more Halloween than that one!
My cousin played this record to me when I was a kid. I found the song a bit disturbing, and I believe it was released on a 45 rpm blue colored record.
XIV - Please tell me you're familiar with Roman numerals??? PLEASE PLEASE !
LOL, I was thinking the same thing!
(just to be clear, the name is pronounced "Napoleon the Fourteenth".)
A mutt is a dog, and a dog is an animal.
Well, that was a great, creepy song to start the Halloween month ! Well done !✌❤🌻😷🎶
In keeping with the Halloween theme, you should react to Deep Purple's "Vincent Price." It's an homage to the legendary horror movie actor, who also did the creepy spoken part at the end of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."
This was about I believe mental health. At one time, my mother had the 45. We would sit there and laugh, whenever she played it. And yes, we listened to the flip side too, and laughed even harder. These types of tracks were considered "novelty" songs back in the day. Something to have fun with...
Showing my age.....I was about 8 or 9 when this first came out and remember how popular it was. So many memories from this! Lol lol Thank you!
I was a teenager when this song came out and we would all “sing” along with it, all of us screaming it out the car windows at the top of our voices. Just a crazy, insane, funny song! We all loved it! Lol.
Well, that wasn't Rush or Boston...but true to your word, you analyze just as thoroughly, and that WAS fun!
"The elevator music of nightmares." Nailed it.
My late father introduced me to this song lol. It was one of his faves lol. It was often on Dr Demento's show. We had 2-4hrs of comedy songs on the radio every week. It was the show that gave us Weird Al Yankovic, and the hit novelty song "Dead Puppies", as well. Some fun similarly minded songs would definitely be "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" by Julie Brown and "Voices in My Head" by Denis Leary ;) . For Halloween and Christmas fun you may want to remember the names Dr Demento, Ray Stevens and Bob Rivers. They'll actually come in handy ;).
LOL this was on one of the Doctor Demento's 20th Anniversary Collection a long long time ago. was meant to get laughs lol XD. Some others on there were "The Shady Lady of Shady Lane," "The Scotsman" (one of my favs), "Star Trekkin," "Existential Blues" and so so many more. it was great to listen to lol XD
edit: I had to laugh when you didn't know what the crackling sound was on the reverse side. That's called a record, darlin'. That's what we had before 8track tapes, cassette tapes and CDs :)
Hadn't heard that in a while and loved your reaction.
Love it! There's certainly something to be said for novelty records (this one's not exactly a 'song' is it?). I used to listen to the syndicated radio show "Dr. Demento" back in the late '70s and early '80s. I even have a 6-record boxed set (autographed!) of his choices for the greatest novelty records of all time. You could easily do a full series on novelty songs like this one, as well as parodies. Psycho Chicken by The Fools vs. Psycho Killer by Talking Heads comes to mind. If you decide to try that one, please use this live version (seriously!): ua-cam.com/video/yikX1zBHJ60/v-deo.html and play the Talking Heads' original first, so you have a good basis for comparison. The king of parodies is (of course) Weird Al Yankovic - plenty to choose from there: Another One Rides the Bus vs. Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, Eat It vs. Beat It by Michael Jackson, etc. Have fun!
I bought this record when l was a boy. Loved it lol. It was a big hit at the time. Today l am sure people would be jumping all over it saying it was making fun of mental illness. Different world now. 🎼🎶🎵🇨🇦
The whole album was songs about being crazy.
Novelty songs were a big thing in the 60s and 70s. As others have mentioned, Dr Demento, on the radio Sunday nights, introduced us to all manner of crazy songs and other demented comedy. A boy named Alfred Yankovic also listened and tried his hand at novelty songs and sent his homemade tapes to Dr D, who played them on his show. This was the beginning of the 40+ year career of "Weird Al". While mostly known for his parodies, he has great original songs. For the Halloween theme try Nature Trail to Hell by Weird Al.
Oh man, I remember this. I was just a kid. A weird and kinda creepy novelty song. It wouldn't fly today because it stigmatizes mental illness. I always interpreted it as him calling his ex that left him a dog, an insult. Not that a dog made him crazy.
There used to be a radio show called "the Doctor Demento Show" that had hilarious stuff like this on it. I dimly remember it from my mostly inebriated youth.
They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! was actually banned from the radio.
Wow never thought I would hear this song ever again. It was on all the radio stations back when that almost all there was.
Me too but it was great especially hearing the B side. My sides are aching at the reaction too.
the guys dog ran away...There was a radio show called The Doctor Demento Show where he plays all kinds of weird songs.
Well that was a weird one :-) Never heard it before. For your halloween specials, be sure to include Scaretale by Nightwish! Probably the album version since it's an Anette-era song.
LOL what a great comedic tune!! What was with your camera? The first 25 seconds or so the video looked weird, thought it was going to be that way the whole video. "Weird song"....the understatement of the year!
Daniel hears the needle on the record..."Weird static"...DUDE!!! A million years ago when ALL we had were records, you heard that on EVERYthing throughout the whole record...EVERY RECORD LOL!!! Ask your parents about it, they know of this ancient ritual. Weird dreams...Oh look, it's the men in white! LMAO!!!
The voice change is made through pitch modulation...I can do it with my audio editing software program. What a cool reaction, song facts with cool information for the win!
Odd that you mentioned reviewing Psycho, looks like you had a Norman Bates moment. You may consider reacting to Timothy by The Buoys.
The first track of the second side of the album is I'm Glad They Took You Away, by Josephine XV (15th)
ua-cam.com/video/5m138-Fn5Tw/v-deo.html
The entire album is made up of psychology related songs.
This was one crazy song! Another crazy song! Roly Poly Fish Heads!
Anyone else hear "I killed Paul" on the reverse side?
The line is "I buried Paul".
The reverse version sounds like a mix of Russian and German.
I can tell you that thru life I have said " Their coming to take me away" more times than I can count.
The look on your face .....priceless!! 🤣😂
At age 69. I heard these when I was a young man. I often sang the first version many times. It's a fun song. But I loved your reaction.
When you whispered, "Cthulu," it made me realize the reverse side of the record would make great ambient background sounds for a D&D dungeon crawl. Hmm... Gotta have a word with my DM.
I haven't heard this song in 60 years (or there abouts). Loved this as a kid when it first came out. A few suggestions for more Halloween music - The Who "Boris The Spider", Donovan "Season of the Witch", Bobby "Boris" Pickett "The Monster Mash", Warren Zevon "Werewolves of London", Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells", "The Phantom Of The Opera" (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor), Creedence Clearwater Revival "I Put A Spell on You" - are just a few suggestions.
It won't be 60 years old for another 3 years.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins' version of, "I Put A spell On You" is better.
When Daniel said what the frick, I felt that.
Haha! This song came out when I was 12 years old. My friend and I went camping. The song was being played on the radio every hour. We got no sleep that night.
I have this one on a 45. My mom played this one on Halloween. Good times!
This one was weird in a good and funny way.
You should do Frank Zappa & the Mothers: Cheepnis (live at the Roxy '73) - about cheap monster movies - suitable for Halloween 😊
Kim Fowley , producer of most of these Crazy Tunes , did Co Produce this early Frank Zappa work . Also on Freak Out .... Kim Fowley most known as Manager for GirlRock ,,The Runaways,,
Mum always cracks up when this comes on. Guess she remembers when it came out.
If you could do “horror movie” by Skyhooks that would be great.
Which of course is about TV News being a real horror movie!
Geoff CB fitting these days especially
Wow, awesome. I can't believe you did this, Daniel. Skid Row used to use this song as their intro tape at concerts in the 80s.
You should listen to two songs by Nervous Norvus - Transfusion and Ape Call. Both really short, like this, but funnier. WAY funnier!
Thanks refreshing my Memory, indeed it was Skid Row using this late 80s early 90s
Someone used to play this on our college radio station! I thought it was weird too!! I never knew the background of it. LOL!!!!
I was 12 years old when this was new. I heard it for the first time on a jukebox at the YMCA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I loved it. Since you could pay to play both sides, I did, And I loved it even more.
@@r0kus First heard it in the 80's. Never knew it was an actual song on the regular radio in the 60s!!!
It was an American DJ who wrote and recorded this famous weird "song" as a prank - I forget his name right now, but you can probably look him up. 😎
@@Bjowolf2 Yes I finally read about it!! Interesting!! Of course, I liked Dicon's research too!!
I always thought this song was fun and crazy. But I never thought it was a Halloween song. Daniel you should do something from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, like " Science Fiction/Double Feature " or " Time Warp "
There used to be a radio station affiliate called The Westwood One radio network, not sure if they are still on the air, and on Saturday nights, they had The Dr. Demento Show, he played novelty and off-the-cuff type songs and this was among those songs he played. On Friday nights, Westwood One had The House of Blues, where they played an hour of Blues, it featured Elwood Blues ( Dan Aykroyd ) as the DJ., from The Blues Brothers.
You need to hear Benny Bell's "Shaving Cream" song. it's a hoot.
Things were so much simpler in simpler times..TheTortureNever Stops..PeaceOrElse.
First time I heard this I was in high school. My clock radio came on at 6am and this was what the local radio station was playing. Woke me up that's for sure. I believe I still have the 45 in a box in the basement.
There were a LOT of "novelty" songs put out in the 60s and 70s, this is just one of them; it sounds almost the same in reverse! I remember kind of imagining that this was the Joker singing when I was little (it came out right about when the Batman TV show did). And - it's Napoleon the Fourteenth, BTW.
Those strange words are back-words.
For Halloween I like 'Season of the Witch' by Donovan (no one reacts to his songs). Also loads of songs by Alice Cooper, 'I Love the Dead', 'Dead Babies', 'Go to Hell' (he did a concept album called Alice Cooper Goes to Hell), 'We're All Crazy', 'The Black Widow'.
Ooh yes, would love to hear some Donovan !
I was 4 years old when this came out. It Absolutely Terrified me. I would run and hide so they couldn't find me to take me away. 😅
I can't say I have heard this before. It charted 40 in Australia. I recognise it from the tag in the outro of the Monkee's 'I'm gonna buy me a dog.'
Love your reaction to this - absolutely hilarious!
I had forgotten that the B side was reversed.
Thanks for the childhood memory.
That's the music my generation listened to, because we could!
Thanks for reminding me!!
Space invaders- uncle vic
Pretenders-space invaders
Player 1- space invaders
In the SongFacts blurb you read, Daniel, Jerry Samuels mentioned a friend who helped him with the title of "The Campbells Are Coming." That friend, Barry Hansen, is Dr. Demento, on whose radio show on several LA stations throughout the 70s (and beyond) "TCTTMA" was played incessantly! But, Hansen/Dr. Demento was and did so much more!
Around that same time (early '70s) Hansen was also employed by Burbank-based Warner Bros. Records (who, of course, released this Napoleon XIV record in '66) as a writer, and he was responsible for most of the content in the weekly Warner Bros. Records in-house publication, "Circular," which was an 8-page (or so) news/information/PR piece sent only to radio personnel and record industry folks. His writing was witty, sometimes wryly ironic, and often unabashedly hilarious.
Hansen was also tasked with compiling and annotating the periodic double-LP samplers Warner Bros. made famously available throughout the '70s. Cheekily called "loss leaders" by the label, they were advertised on inner sleeves on every album released by the label. People could just send in $2 for each double album to hear many new full-length songs recently released by the Warners label family! The object was to introduce record-buyers to the label's new artists and their new songs through these double albums, and thus, promote sales.
Hansen also wrote articles for the rock press in the '70s, including Rolling Stone, Hit Parader, and the jazz mag, Down Beat.
Alice Cooper - Welcome to my nightmare, Steven, The Black widow, Hes Back( Friday the 13th)... Feed My Frankenstien.... and many more!!!
You should do "Fishheads by Barnes and Barnes
They're coming to take you away. Ha Ha!
Napoleon the 14th. Roman numerals there. I can almost hear this being done by Emo Phillips...lol
not only backwards, but it played from the inside out
A song about a man whose dog has run away. He goes crazy because he wants his dog back.
I fully understand this as I have two dogs that I love with all my heart!
Listen carefully.
It really is about a dog.
I had the 45 of this song. Lord I feel OLD! 😄
I remember a spooky song from the 60s called "Laurie". (subtitled Strange Things Happen in This World) It was by Dickie Lee.
And they played this every week on the king biscuit flower hour.
Comedy songs were popular around that time, check out "Snoopy vs the Red Baron", "Batman and His Grandmother", "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight".
Arthur Brown - Fire 🔥 (1968) and Alice Cooper - Ballad of Dwight Fry is an iconic song
Great. It was really popular in 1966. (Yes, I DO remember.) Napoleon the 14th going crazy over his dog.
Static is most essential part of listening to music back in the day.
Keeping this theme up, Black Sabbath- Am I going insane
Novelty song, of course. But boy does this take me back. I was at the absolutely right age for this song when it came out. I was 12.
About a million years ago Chuck Mangione did a song called "Give it all you've got". On his fun and games album he did a different version called "Give it all you've got , but slowly". It was the same song but to about half the tempo. Doing things like that weren't uncommon.
Wow you really dug into the dog pile for that one ..That song was a hoot when it came out . I remember we used to play it over and over. Of course it is a novelty spoof, . The static you heard was the crackle produced by vinyl records back in the day. Try the Monster mash by Bobby Pickett. The Phantom of the opera overture by Andrew Lloyd Weber , I put a Spell on you from the movie Hocus Pocus (Bette Midler, Ray Parker Jr "Ghost busters theme" Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London, Sheb Wooley "The Purple People eater" just to name a few.
i remember this on the am radio from a long time ago. along the same vein: Alice Cooper's "Nobody Likes Me" off the Easy Action album in 1971.
for Halloween do leave out the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack. "Time Warp".
love your work.
Weird Al's genre of novelty or parody songs. There were lots of them but another one that springs to mind is (copied and pasted here)
Shaving Cream" a song written by Benny Bell in 1946, and originally sung by Paul Wynn.[1] It is a novelty song where each verse ends with a mind rhyme of shit, the initial sh- segueing into the refrain, "Shaving Cream".
It's pretty funny.
I forgot about this song. I had heard it, once, through an uncle of mine.
For Halloween songs, definitely check these out:
Iron Maiden - Still Life
Mötley Crüe - You're All I Need
Slayer - Dead Skin Mask
Some newer band did a cover of this, but it's lame; It sounded like they were trying to hard to be cool.
So, are you telling me that reality is backward?
That seems accurate for a lot of it.
“I don’t even know what to say” Bahahahaha