Bottle of Wine, Tom Paxton, 1965, many covers. Also count me in on the ones who liked They’re Coming to Take Me Away.
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They finally took him away, ha, ha
- Thread starter oldbrownhat
- Start date
Bottle of Wine, Tom Paxton, 1965, many covers. Also count me in on the ones who liked They’re Coming to Take Me Away.
OP
"...whose other credits include "The Ballad of Spiro Agnew."
I didn't know about that one, but it's so short I probably missed it
Miracle Man
US Veteran
I was a corrections officer oh must have been 01, 02 somewhere around there. Anyways we could only pick up a couple of radio stations inside the prison, all the interference, I guess? One Sunday me and my partner turned the radio on about 10AM or so and that song was on.
Then it started playing again, and again, and soon we were like what the hell?? We switched over to the other station and it was some talk show or something so few minutes later we switched back. Well guess what? They're coming to take me away was still going strong.
All kinds of rumors started flying around. Big one was DJ had barricaded himself in radio station and was going to commit suicide. It finally went off repeat that evening but played for several hours.
The incident even made the paper the next day. I forget the whole story but there was no suicide. Just a broken radio station I believe.
Then it started playing again, and again, and soon we were like what the hell?? We switched over to the other station and it was some talk show or something so few minutes later we switched back. Well guess what? They're coming to take me away was still going strong.
All kinds of rumors started flying around. Big one was DJ had barricaded himself in radio station and was going to commit suicide. It finally went off repeat that evening but played for several hours.
The incident even made the paper the next day. I forget the whole story but there was no suicide. Just a broken radio station I believe.
31FordA
Member
My Dad introduced me to “They’re Coming To Take Me Away” when I was a little kid. I’ve always enjoyed novelty songs, and that’s one of my favorites. I’m even known to sing the refrain at work, often during what some might consider inappropriate times. No one at the State Hospital seemed to appreciate the humor when I went there to pick up a prisoner. Some people at the funny farm have no sense of fun at all.
I remember that WOGL, Oldies 98.1FM in Philly, seemed to play “Ahab the Arab” every morning during the first Gulf War. Can you imagine the hysteria that would provoke now. Oldies 98 used to play all the novelty songs, classics like “Little Nash Rambler”, “Dinner with Drac”, “Sink the Bismarck”, anything by Ray Stevens, and lots more.
I remember that WOGL, Oldies 98.1FM in Philly, seemed to play “Ahab the Arab” every morning during the first Gulf War. Can you imagine the hysteria that would provoke now. Oldies 98 used to play all the novelty songs, classics like “Little Nash Rambler”, “Dinner with Drac”, “Sink the Bismarck”, anything by Ray Stevens, and lots more.
Like "Papa-Oo-Mow-Mow", "Surfin' Bird" and"Purple People Eater."
BLACKHAWKNJ
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"Please Mr. Custer" was another. Then there's "I'd a wrote you a letter but I couldn't spell PHHFFFTTT!!!" And "Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight ?"
Back in my service days, a local Christain radio station was changing its format to rock . . . yeah. To kick off the change, they played Louie, Louie for 24 hours straight. Did you know there were several versions of that song?
My office was one of those high-wall rooms, not ceiling. I had a stereo system set up, so I tuned in to the station, cranked up the volume, and left for the day and let the continuous Louie, Louie drive everyone nuts. Somewhere during the night someone climbed over the wall and pulled the plug.
Step N. Mud
Member
Dad was on a Air Force softball team while we were in '67, Misawa Japan and in a 24 hr. marathon softball tournament. The opposing teams would dedicate the 'They are coming to take me away' and 'bird of paradise' to each other on the only local radio channel and others like Buck Owens 'Tiger by the tail'. Don't remember who won the tournament but the dedicated songs.
