Talk:They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to songs on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

"This is the first known instance of backmasking in popular music." The Beatles' "Rain" was first, wasn't it?

The singer's dog? I thought he was calling her a dog in the metaphoric sense.

Yeah, it wouldnt make much sense if she was literally a dog.

My original "that's definitely not a dog" comment deleted, because it's apparently official from "Napoleon" himself that the song is about a dog, according to Songfacts. He wrote the song over a period of nine months, one verse at a time, and the idea that it was a dog was added at pretty much the last second, to lighten an otherwise "sick" song. The song's sequel, "They're Coming To Get Me Again, Ha-Haaa!", makes it more clear. That still doesn't explain the "reply" by Josephine XV on one of Samuels own albums, entitled "I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!", nor does it explain why he cooked food and cleaned house for a dog, but whatever. It's official and stuff. - 67.191.254.83 11:15, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably he was forced to refer to the dog, although it is obviously that it is about a girl; the ASPCA might refer to himself, so that he sees himself as a poor animal which has been mistreated (by his ex-girl). --212.241.65.41 15:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

He's definitely talking about his dog running away. Read the lyrics. The comedy of the song is that he makes you first think he's talking about a woman, and then you find out it was only about his dog. This article needs editing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vinzklorthos (talk • contribs) 07:42, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Just look at the album cover, he's standing next to a fire hydrant, holding a novelty "invisible dog" collar and leash. You're right, the song is about a missing dog.--RLent (talk) 19:38, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit]  !aaaH

Is the B-side quite literally the recording of the A-side run backwards - with no extra instrumentation or augmentation etc - or did the band "play" the song backwards? -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:02, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

My mom has the 45 for this song, and I can attest that it definitely is the A-side run backwards, with no extra work other than reversing it. It starts at the end of the song and works its way forward with lots of fun backward singing that I always found hilarious as a kid. -- (Paul Pigg) 71.197.234.174 (talk) 06:06, 12 May 2008 (UTC)