Hi Lindasusan,

Thanks for bringing a fun memory to mind with the mention of this song. I have a personal story to share about the song, though it most certainly wasn't funny at the time...

Twenty-some years ago, my mother met and eventually married a fantastic man -- someone just perfect for her. He's retired now, but at that time he was a high school shop teacher, and he'd had his mother come live with him, as she was failing mentally. She wasn't totally bonkers, but she was a little bit "off," just not totally with the program, so to speak.

On the occasion I'm recalling, Steve and I and our two kids had been invited to come meet Russ and his mother and share a meal with them.

My son was no more than 10, and quite an expressive personality. He was an active, inquisitive and friendly kid. He also loved to sing, often singing songs he'd heard on the oldies radio station I often listened to...

After our initial meeting that day, I went into the kitchen to help get the meal on the table, and left Steve, Russ, his mother and my kids in the living room, where they somewhat awkwardly trying to find something to chat about.

We asked the kids to help set the table, to give them something active to do...

The next thing I heard, my son had started singing under his breath, while putting silverware on the table. And this is what he'd innocently selected to sing: "They're coming to take me away ha ha, they're coming to take me away ho ho, to the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time..."

Steve quickly moved to shush him, and Zach seemed to have no idea why we'd put the kibosh on his singing.

We all prayed that Russ's mother hadn't really been listening to Zach, and no one spoke of this again.

In retrospect, it seems like Zach picked an oddly accurate song to sing in childlike innocence. (But these days, he gets really embarrassed if anyone reminds him of the incident.)