Talk:Napoleon XIV

Redundancy

This page contains basically the whole They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! song article... AnonMoos 17:19, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Fixed. --Dhartung | Talk 20:16, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

All recording info is sourced first hand directly from the original released recordings. The remark concerning Barry and Sol Parker songwriting credit is taken directly from Jerry Samuels, himself, via a series of 2 separate telephone interviews from 2006. FredClem (talk) 01:21, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I removed the following text - it almost mirrors the excellent claptrap of the famous song (more please of that sort of nonsense for all of us to enjoy) - but as a encyclopedic entry it is, at best, bollocks -

"Napoleon XIV" name origin alternative: While the "Napoleon" origin is obvious (from "Napoleon Bonaparte", as evidenced in the writer's credit of TCTTMA,HH, shown as "N. Bonaparte"), the "XIV" portion may have been inspired elsewhere (other than from "Louis XIV").

Jerry Samuels released his very first recording on the VIK label in 1956. The VIK label, when backwards, becomes KIV. The "K", when mirrored (as was the label of his 1966, and 1973, WB single release), becomes something of a twisted "X", or "XIV". The Vik label, an RCA subsidiary, was formerly known as "X" a few months earlier, with some later "X" issues going on to be re-issued on the Vik label (using the same "X" original catalogue numbers).

Derek R Bullamore (talk) 23:45, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

I undid the edit because I feel that it offers a more definitive origin to his name. I have never felt the "XIV" origin of his name being related to Louis XIV as being definitive, but more speculative. I find no actual documentation to support that claim. I offered physical evidence to support my own, but it was removed as an alleged infringement of copyright (which I still disagree with since I felt it was within the rules of Wikipedia for fair usage a copyrighted image: low resolution, etc.). FredClem (talk) 01:42, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I just removed it as obvious speculation, and when I came here to deposit it, I saw that it was already removed before. As FredClem says, "I feel that it offers a more definitive origin to his name. I have never felt the "XIV" origin of his name being related to Louis XIV as being definitive, but more speculative." -- By definition this is original research, and a discussion could proceed here, but it shouldn't be in the article. Thanks, BCorr|Брайен 17:30, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Article name

An article that should be named Jerry Samuels should contain this content, as this content addresses Jerry's whole songwriting career. The Napoleon XIV should either contain the specific content related to that nom de plume and link to Jerry, or the whole Napoleon XIV article should redirect to Jerry Samuels. Group29 (talk) 16:24, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Radio boycott

"after stations stopped playing it in the wake of protests from advocacy groups for the mentally ill."

They may well have done so in the USA, but BBC Radio played it in the 1980s and later. I don't think they do anymore but anyway...--MacRusgail (talk) 18:18, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Ambiguous passage

The text said:

While he did not achieve any further mainstream success, based upon the relatively recent cover versions of his hit song (see:"They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"), Napoleon XIV has remained a cult favorite to this day.

I assumed that meant the "recent cover versions" were an indication Samuels was a "cult favorite". The phrasing was awkward, though, because this:

While he did not achieve any further mainstream success, based upon the relatively recent cover versions of his hit song...

...could give the impression---to someone who didn't know what a "cover" was---that Samuels himself had recently re-recorded the song. Thus my edit (also economizing words):

While he did not achieve further mainstream success, recent cover versions of They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! indicate that Napoleon XIV has remained a cult favorite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SomeAvailableName (talk • contribs) 10:12, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Citing References and Sources

This has been an ongoing dilemma for this article almost from the beginning. Most of which I had contributed to this article was based on my own personal research (based on actual physical evidence, not from books or articles), as well as personal phone conversations with Jerry Samuels himself for confirmation. Alot of which I've found in books has largely been based on speculation. For instance, the origin of his name (Napoleon XIV). Most would prefer to believe that he got his name based on Napoleon and Louis XIV. When Bloominthemusical entered an actual (complete) testimony of the origin of Napoleon XIV, it was deleted as being cited as "vandelism" the first time around, and then two more times after that. What was cited in that testimony was indeed fact (to his best recollection), written by Jerry Samuels himself. Jerry actually told me about it BEFORE I read about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Napoleon_XIV&oldid=246862768), and he even read it to me, word for word, over the phone. Granted that the story had yet to be published in actual book form, but still they were Jerry's own words. If Jerry's own words can't account for being reliable references or sources, I don't know what can.

Fred Clemens FredClem (talk) 00:22, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

This recording contains an interview with Samuels by Dr Demento from ~6/4/76. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nPwqrg993I The interview starts at 56:50. He describes how he made the song. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.124.116.101 (talk) 01:06, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Requested move

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no consensus to move the page at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasuよ! 20:02, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

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Napoleon XIV → Jerry Samuels – Napoleon XIV was only part of his novelty record career. --Relisted. Dekimasuよ! 20:49, 6 December 2014 (UTC) In ictu oculi (talk) 00:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

• Support – As per proposal. (I also rewrote part of the lead to maintain consistency with other BLP articles.) --V2Blast (talk) 09:18, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

• Grudgingly oppose. I would have loved to have supported a move from this pretentious name but it gets over ten times the hits of "Jerry Samuels", and whose to say that there aren't other "Jerry Samuels" even to have boosted those numbers. Gregkaye ✍♪ 09:50, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:UCN. Napoleon XIV was the only notable part of his novelty record career. —  AjaxSmack  03:38, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Jerry Samuels' pre-Napoleon career

There used to be a section on Jerry Samuels' pre-Napoleon recording career in which he cut records that were flops in the late 1950s. I started to bring it back and I encourage others to join in. Steelbeard1 (talk) 11:10, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

not top 5

It was not top 5, it was top 3, reaching its peak of #3 August 13 1966. Source Billboard Magazine Hot 100 chart. 71.184.87.187 (talk) 00:54, 25 July 2022 (UTC)