In the 90s, it resurfaced on “Wacky Favorites.”
There is another followup - The Place where the nuts hunt the squirrels
which I have thanks to WBCN rare tape night, I think 1971 or 1972.
I’m old enough to remember the original release. Mem’reeeees. Also, The Purple People Eater.
Yeah, it was definitely mid-60s. I was there. And every decent online source says 1966 specifically.
This was the first 45 I ever bought. (Yeah, I’m one of those types.) Definitely 1966. I still have it.
The B side was just the song played backwards. No Satanism.
“They’re Coming to Take Me Away” possibly has the record for most meteoric rise and plummet of a single. In only six weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100, these were its chart positions:
50 - 11 - 5 - 3 - 5 - 37
It couldn’t be avoided where I was. AM radio. If you wanted to hear the Beatles, you had to endure this, and other novelty songs, and songs by the likes of Perry Como. It was a real mish until the British Invasion wiped everything else away.
I wonder if they guys taking him to the morgue said that they’re coming to take him away.