# Napoleon XIV has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [March 11, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003 "2023-03-11T02:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/1 "2023-03-11T02:01:51Z")
Jerry Samuels, perhaps the weirdest one-hit wonder performer, died today. His song “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha!” was a big hit in 1966 (credited to Napoleon XIV), It was one of the few singles I’ve ever bought. RIP > **[Jerry Samuels Dies: One of Pop Music's Most Unique One-Hit Wonders as...](https://bestclassicbands.com/jerry-samuels-obituary-napoleon-xiv-3-10-23/?fbclid=IwAR1fv--dHd7776fbkdOET8sVKpbL1aLTrpiMsG-KgWcEFF0cRxCc_fdZ178)** > > He wrote and recorded "They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!," an instant hit single in 1966, with an equally bizarre B-side ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/2 "2023-03-11T02:05:07Z")
That takes me back. Thanks for posting this. I wonder how Josephine XV is doing? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/3 "2023-03-11T02:06:21Z")
I will observe a respectful moment of deranged silence. Thank you for the welcome peculiarity you brought to us all, Jerry. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/4 "2023-03-11T03:50:51Z")
My copy is long gone, but I still wonder what Satanic messages were embedded in the B side. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/5 "2023-03-11T04:10:07Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I wonder how Josephine XV is doing? Do you mean Rosemary? I think she’s fine with it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/3HmzQ8vFkgc/hqdefault.jpg "Leave The Children Out Of It! - Jerry Samuels") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HmzQ8vFkgc) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/6 "2023-03-11T12:00:33Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HraWfdQ5A30/maxresdefault.jpg "Josephine XV - I'm Happy They Took You Away, Ha​-​Haaa!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HraWfdQ5A30) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/7 "2023-03-11T12:09:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > That takes me back. Thanks for posting this. I wonder how Josephine XV is doing? According to the linked article, it didn’t bother Josephine at all when they first took him away. One cut from the album (yes, there was an album) is “I’m Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Josephine XV. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/8 "2023-03-11T12:19:32Z")
See above ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/9 "2023-03-11T12:29:10Z")
That song was 1966?? I thought it got big in the late 70s or early 80s. Maybe it made a comeback from the Dr. Demento show? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/10 "2023-03-11T12:32:58Z")
I heard it in the early 70s - but in later years I would run into younger folks who heard it later and thought it was newer due to revivals by Demento or other DJs ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/11 "2023-03-11T12:44:10Z")
I would have put money on that being a 70s song. Thanks to the SDMB, I was saved from a losing bet! Is there anything this place can’t do? Anyway, I loved that song as a kid. Loved it! ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/12 "2023-03-11T13:08:57Z")
Loved that song also. Is it really that long ago? ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/13 "2023-03-12T02:18:10Z")
I saved up my babysitting $$ & bought that for my Granny, who was certifiable ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/14 "2023-03-12T03:30:04Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > That song was 1966?? I thought it got big in the late 70s or early 80s. Maybe it made a comeback from the Dr. Demento show? FWIW, Howard Stern used it for his theme music when he had the afternoon drive slot on WNBC in the early Eighties. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/15 "2023-03-12T03:42:57Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > That song was 1966?? I thought it got big in the late 70s or early 80s. Maybe it made a comeback from the Dr. Demento show? I first heard it on Dr. Demento, but it also appeared on some K-Tel compilation of novelty songs. “Loony Tunes,” maybe, or “Goofy Greats,” which (IIRC) both came out in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/16 "2023-03-12T04:19:29Z")
My dad had that and the backwards version on a cassette tape he’d always play in the car in the 1980s-1990s. I loved that song! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/17 "2023-03-12T04:34:17Z")
So I guess they came to take him away. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/18 "2023-03-12T19:09:55Z")
Ahhh, that takes me back to a Waffle House sometime in my childhood. We were on the way to a wedding, and while we were standing in the parking lot while my dad smoked a cigarette, there was a Fiat Spyder with the lyrics to it scratched into the hood’s paint. ETA: When I saw the title, I wondered if this was a riff on the SNL Franco joke. I thought the guy who wrote that song had died years ago. Don’t know how that idea got into my head. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/19 "2023-03-12T19:23:30Z")
I was at a hospital recently. When a guy, who was in his seventies, started to be wheeled toward an operating room, he proclaimed “They’re coming to take me away!” I only regret that I didn’t respond with “ha, ha”. I also suspect I was the only one within earshot who recognized what he was referring to. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003/20 "2023-03-12T19:26:00Z")
Did they determine whether the song was about a dog? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon-xiv-has-died/981003.md?page=2)