Lost Classics: "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Napoleon XIV

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*runs screaming*

(Scared the crap out of me last time I heard it, when I was maybe 26.)

― Nackles (Nackles), Wednesday, 27 June 2001 02:52 (twenty-five years ago)

four years pass...

It's one of my favorite songs. I'll YSI it later for people who don't know it.

What do you think?

― Michael Costello (MichaelCostello1), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i had the napoleon xiv album at one point. it wasn't very good.

― jody heatherton (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ah Ah, Yawa Em Ekat ot Gnimoc Re'yeht" is better.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's classic. Sadly, I've never heard the B-side.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

they used it in a commercial for a short-lived Milton Bradley board game when I was a kid=not 'lost' but indeed classic

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:44 (twenty-one years ago)

hearing this on the radio is a real treat.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 17 July 2005 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Scared the fuck out of me as a child.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 17 July 2005 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, is this the "nice young men in their clean white coats" etc.?

― Telephonething (Telephonething), Sunday, 17 July 2005 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

this could've almost been a ween song.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 17 July 2005 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure I have a Jello Biafra/Lard cover of this somewhere. Biafra claims it as a key inspiration and influence IIRC.

― Soukesian, Sunday, 17 July 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Ugh, that Lard cover was a wretched thing indeed.
The original was ever so fun when I was 10, but I don't think I've actually heard it since then.

Is this a song that's now sung far more than it's actually listened to?

― Øystein (Øystein), Monday, 18 July 2005 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i have a great and totally unhinged answer record by someone called The Emperor that is almost better than the original. especially when the emperor screams "Don't touch my frog!" "they're coming to take my brother away, oh no, not me!" it's a beautiful thing.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 18 July 2005 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I was shocked to find that this was done by Kim Fowley. I found this out when I saw "The Mayor of the Sunset Strip". Surprised the heck out of me.

― Jonathan Tully, Monday, 18 July 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

It surprised me to when I seen that movie.

― Michael Costello (MichaelCostello1), Monday, 18 July 2005 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

What's lost about it? I noticed it was on the song list at the last karaoke I was (unintentionally) at - amazingly, no-one was drunk enough to try it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 18 July 2005 09:06 (twenty-one years ago)

How did your version of "The Laughing Policeman" go down, Dada?

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 18 July 2005 09:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember there being another answer record, this time by the spurned woman.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 18 July 2005 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

They didn't have that but they did have "Waiting for the Man" (xpost)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 18 July 2005 09:11 (twenty-one years ago)

classic but not lost.

theres two versions.

the backwards side and the one with "their coming to take me away again."

― danny boy, Monday, 18 July 2005 09:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"They didn't have that but they did have "Waiting for the Man""

Well, I think you could have combined the two quite easily:

"I know this fat a policeman, he's always on our street
A fat and jolly red-faced man, he really is a treat
He's never early, he's always late
First thing you learn is you always gotta wait

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hohohohohahahahahahahahaha etc."

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 18 July 2005 09:21 (twenty-one years ago)

seventeen years pass...

Hee hee
Ho ho

― stank viola (Neanderthal), Monday, 3 October 2022 18:02 (three years ago)

Someone used this song as their intro for their shows back in the 80s--Rush, maybe? I wish I could remember.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 3 October 2022 18:03 (three years ago)

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