This will be my 12th to the last post on the main board!

[calvindog]

I was just one year old then...but I know I had heard that song before so somehow, someway it must have had some shelf-life (God only knows why). I love the video, however. Different, non-politically correct era.

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I love the video, however. Different, non-politically correct era.

Of course, videos had no footprint back in 1966, but that song took incredible heat. I think it climbed to a Top 5 hit but then radios stations started getting pressure not to play it. I lived in NY back then and I think both WABC and WMCA took it off their playlists and the record company (BMI ???) withdrew it.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

Of course, videos had no footprint back in 1966, but that song took incredible heat. I think it climbed to a Top 5 hit but then radios stations started getting pressure not to play it. I lived in NY back then and I think both WABC and WMCA took it off their playlists and the record company (BMI ???) withdrew it.

Sounds like a conspiracy to me. Were there many 'bankers' living in NYC back then?

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by Jim VB

Of course, videos had no footprint back in 1966, but that song took incredible heat. I think it climbed to a Top 5 hit but then radios stations started getting pressure not to play it. I lived in NY back then and I think both WABC and WMCA took it off their playlists and the record company (BMI ???) withdrew it.

But it was good enough to be "revived" in 1973. It only hit #87 on the national charts, but it's interesting that it could get re-issued seven years after it was supposedly blacklisted.

I was only a year old in '73 but maybe somebody here can answer: was the song's re-emergence brought on by Dr. Demento? Perhaps he was playing the song on his radio show and a populace that had lived through what happened between '66 and '73 could appreciate it better.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by ChrisStufflestreet

But it was good enough to be "revived" in 1973. It only hit #87 on the national charts, but it's interesting that it could get re-issued seven years after it was supposedly blacklisted.

I was only a year old in '73 but maybe somebody here can answer: was the song's re-emergence brought on by Dr. Demento? Perhaps he was playing the song on his radio show and a populace that had lived through what happened between '66 and '73 could appreciate it better.

"The original single was re-issued by Warner Bros. Records (#7726) in 1973, and eked onto the Billboard Hot 100 at number 87. The song appeared on disk releases by Dr. Demento in 1975 as part of Dr. Demento's Delights, then in subsequent Dr. Demento LP's released in 1985, 1988 and 1991."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27..._Away,_Ha-Haaa!

[calvindog]

Ahhh...that's when I must have heard it. Dr. Demento was great. Not sure why, but he was great.

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Different, non-politically correct era.

Yeah, Back then it was was considered acceptable for dog catchers to secure loose dogs and take them away.

[barrysloate]

I was in a camp in Maine that summer of 1966 and remember the song well. It was really popular but a lot of people felt it was just too strange...and for good reason. I believe the flip side of the 45 was a song recorded backwards, perhaps that very tune.

[murcerfan]

...but played on a homophone it was the same ?

[Bob Lemke]

Back in 1966 I was working a real job at Mickey D's and had a lot of that $1.10/hr. burning a hole in my pocket.

I bought the Napoleon XIV album (in Mono) and still have it. The entire album is in the same vein: The Nuts on My Family Tree, I'm in Love with My Little Red Tricycle, Bats in My Belfry, etc.