Napoleon XIV’s novelty hit “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” has the distinction of being the song to drop the furthest within the Top 40 in a single week. It charted for five weeks during 1966; in week 3 it peaked at #3, it scored #5 in week 4, and fell to #37 in week 5. This was due to radio programmers removing the song from their playlists, fearing an adverse reaction from people who might consider the song as ridiculing the mentally ill.
Napoleon XIV is actually Jerry Samuels, a songwriter whose biggest hit under his real name was The Shelter of Your Arms. Sammy Davis, Jr.'s recording of that tune reached #3 on the R&B chart, as well as #17 on the list of top pop singles, in 1964.
Merry Clayton, a soul singer from New Orleans, provided memorable vocals to the Rolling Stones’ song “Gimme Shelter.”
The Sisters of Mercy live performances featured many cover versions: among those, a medley consisting of “Sister Ray” (by Velvet Underground), “Ghostrider” (by Suicide) and “Louie Louie” (by Richard Berry) became a live staple. Only three of them, The Stooges’ “1969”, The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and Hot Chocolate’s “Emma” were eventually recorded and released on Sisters records (all as b-sides).
SFC Schwartz
Actress Emma Thompson just turned 54. Her birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday, Emma!
Emma Thompson attended Cambridge with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (whom she “dated” for a considerable time). Fry and Laurie were a comedy duo for decades, and both appeared in the hilarious series Blackadder.
Jane Austen’s ***Emma ***was detective Nero Wolfe’s favorite book, and he re-read it often.
Austin is the capital of Texas and is located on the Colorado River. The Colorado River is 862 miles long and is the longest river in Texas that has both its source and mouth in Texas.
Mike Myers asked Michael Caine to play Austin Powers’ father in*** Goldmember*** because Myers had based Powers in large part on Harry Palmer, the bespectacled spy Caine had played in The IPCRESS File.
Some time after his mother died, Michael Caine and his younger brother, Stanley, learned they had an elder half-brother named David. He suffered from severe epilepsy and had been kept in Cane Hill Mental Hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in the hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992.
Jean Toomer wrote the book Cane, a combination novel consisting of vignettes, poetry, and dialog all dealing with the black experience in America. Considered one of the gems of the Harlem Renaissance, the book is considered a classic of modernism.
The Schenectady Mohawk Colored Giants played in the Negro Leagues from 1913 to 1943. The Giants played their home games at the nicest ball field in Schenectady, Island Park. Pitcher Frank Wickware was called “the best colored pitcher in the world” by the Schenectady Union-Star.
Wickware also pitched for the Dallas Giants, Leland Giants (Chicago), Chicago American Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, New York Lincoln Giants, St. Louis Giants, and Philadelphia Giants during his career in the Negro Leagues.
Before being called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and thereby helping destroy the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson played for their minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals of the International League. Other IL teams included the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Havana Sugar Kings.
The Negro League team, the Zulu Cannibal Giants used to play their games shirtless, painted in tribal paint, wearing grass skirts, and playing barefoot. They played some baseball during the games, but they often turned into a comedy performance similar to the Harlem Globetrotters in basketball.
SFC Schwartz
Off-game comment: Frank Wickware was a real Giant!
During the Battle of Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu Ware of 1879, there was an eclipse of the sun on the battlefield. The Zulus, unlike natives in fiction, were not frightened by the loss of the sun and decisively defeated the British. Following their forces, they engaged at the Battle of Roarke’s Drift, where a small handful of British soldiers held off thousands of Zulu warriors, who withdrew primarily because the had orders not to cross to the Roarke’s Drift side of the border.
In 1956, the Soviet Navy’s Zulu Class submarines became the world’s first ballistic missile submarines.
Both the U.S. Navy and the British Royal Navy now operate Trident-class ballistic missile submarines, and no others.
The SEAL Trident, known formally as the Special Warfare Insignia, and informally as “The Budweiser,” is awarded for completing training for BUD/S and for SEAL qualification.