The melody is taken from the ballet Dance of the Hours from the opera La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli, while the lyrics were written by Sherman and Lou Busch.

[1] In 2020, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

[3] The song is a parody that complains about the fictional "Camp Granada" and is set to the tune of Amilcare Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, from the opera La Gioconda.

[1] The name derives from the first lines: The lyrics go on to describe unpleasant, dangerous, and tragic developments, such as fellow campers going missing or contracting deadly illnesses.

He asks how his "precious little brother" is doing, and begs to be taken home, afraid of being left out in the forest and fearing getting eaten by a bear, promising to behave, and even letting his aunt hug and kiss him.

At the end, he notes that the rain has stopped and fun activities such as swimming, sailing, and baseball have begun, and asks his parents to "kindly disregard this letter".

He describes another set of disastrous events, including a compound fracture, unhabitable bunks, thin bathrooms, and Lenny Bruce being brought in to entertain the campers.

[4] This song hit number 1 in Hong Kong, where there were no summer camps in existence, according to Allan Sherman in his book A Gift of Laughter (1965).

It was featured in the final scene of The King of Queens episode "Tube Stakes" in 1999, during which main character Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller) performs his morning stretches.

The Hebrew version was translated by playwright Hanoch Levin, and performed by the IDF's Armored Corps band's lead singer Tiki Dayan [he].