I went to sleep with the radio on when I was a kid. For a couple of years in the early 80s, I lived in Ellaville, Georgia (I hated it) and the station I listened to was in Columbus and every Sunday night right around bedtime it played the Dr. Demento Show. Dr. Demento introduced me to Weird Al Yankovic and lots of other novelty songs. Obviously, I didn’t fall asleep during the Dr. Demento Show. I bet every political cartoonist listened to Dr. Demento.
One of the songs that seemed to play every Sunday was “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV. There’s no actual singing in the song and the only music is rhythm from drums and hand claps. The speaking is at a normal pace but increases in speed and pitch during the chorus. It comes off as a guy going insane over his girlfriend dumping him but you discover in the end that it’s actually his dog who dumped him. It’s hilarious and a timeless classic.
I wrote this cartoon Friday for CNN but didn’t think they’d take it and I didn’t think I’d draw it for my newspapers either. I was thinking that at this point that the song is too obscure and no one would know what I was talking about. But I had second thoughts this morning with one of those being, “Fuck it. It is a classic.” I know my fellow weirdos will get it instantly and they’ll love it. But maybe it’s not that obscure.
In fact, the song reached number three on the charts in 1966 which comes as news to me because when I was listening to this in 1982, I thought it was new.
Napoleon XIV was actually Jerry Samuels and he didn’t make a career out of novelty songs. He was a singer, songwriter, studio producer, engineer, and talent agent. While working for a record label in New York City, he put together “They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” and he made a hit and became a one-hit-wonder. The B-side was the song in reverse, titled, “”!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er’yehT” Rock critic Dave Marsh called it the “most obnoxious song ever” and claims it once cleared out a diner of 40 people in under two minutes.
As I was trying to decide between this cartoon and a few others I wrote on Friday, I did some Googling about the song, wanting to know who Napoleon XIV really was and I discovered that Jerry Samuels died two weeks ago on March 3, 2023, at the age of 84. That nailed it for my choice of which cartoon to draw today. This cartoon is dedicated to Napoleon XIV.
And in case you’re curious, Napoleon XIV died from dementia.
You gotta be a little crazy to write a song like “They’re Coming To Take Me Away! Ha-Haa!” and really crazy to draw cartoons or at least good ones. But you gotta be totally deranged and out of your fucking mind if you’re Donald Trump.
Ha-Haa! Ho-Ho! Hee-Hee! Hoo-Hoo! Ha-Haa!
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Watch me draw:
claytoonz 
Omg! I remember that song from 1966!!! I was 13, then. And yes, it was wildly popular on AM radio. It is the perfect score for this decade.
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Trump is not only crazy, he is a fucking asshole. His recent threats of death and destruction if he is charged with a crime would prompt an immediate visit by the police for any other person. Lock his dump ass up permanently.
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My kids and I still sing this song to each other! We never missed Dr Demento, on Sunday nights on a station out of San Francisco in the mid/late 70s! Great memories!
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Absolutely hilarious and spot-on! Now, how do I get that song out of my head???
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Perfectly apropos … “You gotta be a little crazy to write a song like “They’re Coming To Take Me Away! Ha-Haa!” and really crazy to draw cartoons or at least good ones. But you gotta be totally deranged and out of your fucking mind if you’re Donald Trump.”
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Exquisite pull to highlight a great toon. I did notice there is a new tune in the UT sidebar. I happy they took you away by Josephine XV …. Maybe this week..
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I had not heard about “I’m happy they took you away “
Thanks for the info. 😉
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All of us Old Fart Boomers (well, most of us anyway) have fond memories of that “song”. For any of you young whippersnappers who don’t know it, here it is, with lyrics:🤪
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“ I bet every political cartoonist listened to Dr. Demento.”
Well, the good ones, anyway. 😉
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Perfect choice! I well remember hearing this song in my early teen years … not one you could dance to!
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I WISH they were coming to take him away!
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I cannot find this song anywhere on the internet but it came out in either 1966 or 1967. It was by The Emporer, and was called possibly “They Took My Brother Away Yesterday” or “i’m Okay! I’m Normal!”
The song opened with the lines:
They took my brother away yesterday
But they’ll never take me away
Because I’m okay!
I’m Normal!
I’ve been singing it for years, so I cannot believe no one put it on the internet!
Does anyone else out there remember it?
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I disagree with this in part. If he is indicted on fraudulent accounting entries – that’s a misdemeanor in NY. If those entries were designed to hide another crime – that’s a felony. Cohen says it’s a felony and he’s in a position to know. So you can bet your bippy (another sixties reference) he’s scared.
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Not all felonies are created equal. It’s a very low-level felony that doesn’t mandate jail time. He’ll be a first-time offender if convicted. No judge is going to put him in jail for this.
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But doesn’t a felony conviction prevent him from running for president?
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“doesn’t a felony conviction prevent him from running for president?”
I think that any ordinary run of the mill felony would not stop him, but a conviction for seditious activity against the USA would.
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“ I did some Googling about the song, wanting to know who Napoleon XIV really was and I discovered that Jerry Samuels died two weeks ago on March 3, 2023, at the age of 84. ”
It’s kind of eerie that unknown to you Samuels died two weeks ago and then last Friday you had this idea.
If you ever decide to quit this business, you might be able to make some decent money as a psychic. 😉
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Pretty big coincidence, huh?
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A felony conviction doesn’t prevent Trump from running for president. In fact, it’s been done before and a candidate has run while in prison.
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What garlic is to food, insanity is to art. RIP Napoleon XIV and keep it up Clay!
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Ahhh, good old Dr. Demento – Another favorite of mine was Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads…Now if someone would just take him away.
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