Napolean XIV - They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
"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. This occurred most notably in the New York market, where both the New York Top 40 music radio stations of the time, WABC and WMCA, banned broadcasting of the song. (WABC continued to include the song on its local Top 20 list despite no longer broadcasting it.)
I remember this well. I actually reached #1 9in New York and then they suddenly decided it was offensive (well, duh!) and overnight stopped playing it.
What about early R'n'B like "Sixty Minute Man" or the even earlier blues "Put Some Sugar in My Bowl"? Well, really almost any blues song that involved a romantic relationship.
3 comments:
Napolean XIV - They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
"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. This occurred most notably in the New York market, where both the New York Top 40 music radio stations of the time, WABC and WMCA, banned broadcasting of the song. (WABC continued to include the song on its local Top 20 list despite no longer broadcasting it.)
I remember this well. I actually reached #1 9in New York and then they suddenly decided it was offensive (well, duh!) and overnight stopped playing it.
Fortunately I'd already bought it.
Jeff (from the geezer bus)
Apparently nobody in Texas found it offensive. I'm sure you're surprised. I wonder if "Please, Mr. Custer" was ever banned.
What about early R'n'B like "Sixty Minute Man" or the even earlier blues "Put Some Sugar in My Bowl"? Well, really almost any blues song that involved a romantic relationship.
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