Napoleon XIV
Thoughts that need thinking like spring has been sprung —"Bats In My Belfry"
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Napoleon XIV was the pseudonym of the American singer and songwriter Jerry Samuels (born 3 May 1938, New York). His novelty songs focus on mental illness. They're about as entertaining as they are creepy. They can be pretty creepy.
This musician features examples of:
- Man Child: "I'm In Love With My Little Red Tricycle"
- Obfuscating Insanity: Inverted in "They're coming to get me again, Ha-Haaa!".
- One-Hit Wonder
- Psycho Psychologist: "Dr. Psyche, the Cut-Rate Head-shrinker."
- Ramping: An auditory variant: his voice gets higher and higher pitched on the chorus to "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" thanks to a variable-frequency oscillator, allowing him to gain a chipmunk voice without changing the tempo.
- Sanity Slippage Song: Probably all of them, but "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" takes the cake.
- Sdrawkcab Name: The original b-side to "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" was called "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" and credited to VIX Noelopan. It was in fact "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" played backwards.
- Split Personality: "I live in a split level head"
- Word Salad Lyrics: "Bats in my Belfry". That quote up there is probably the most sensible lyrics in the whole song.