He describes his deteriorating mental state in the wake of her departure, and expresses a somewhat twisted excitement about his impending committal to a "funny farm" (slang for a psychiatric hospital).

However, the final verse reveals that the narrator's words are aimed not at a woman, but at a runaway dog.

Samuels feared that listeners would find the song insensitive towards those with mental illness, and intentionally worded the last line so "you realize that the person is talking about a dog having left him, not a human".

Samuels used a variable-frequency oscillator to alter the 60 Hz frequency of the hysteresis motor of a multitrack tape recording machine.

He first recorded the rhythm track, then overdubbed the vocal track while slowing the tape at the end of each chorus (and reciting the words in time with the slowing beat), so when it was played back at normal speed, the tempo would be steady but the pitch of his voice would rise.

Samuels also layered in siren effects that gradually rose and fell with the pitch of his vocals.

[7] Continuing the theme of insanity, the flip or B-side of the single was simply the A-side played in reverse, and given the title "!aaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT" (or "Ha-Haaa!

As with the original release, the labels for the reissue's B-side also included mirror-imaged print except for the disclaimer, record catalog, and track master numbers.

The "Burbank" motto at the top of the label was also kept frontward as well as the "WB" letters in the shield logo, which had been printed in reverse on the originals.

was recorded by CBS Radio Mystery Theater cast member Bryna Raeburn, credited as "Josephine XV", and was the closing track on side two of the 1966 Warner Bros. album (Josephine was the name of the spouse of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte).

In the song, the narrator has been discharged from the mental hospital but remains plagued by insanity and fears of being readmitted.

Additionally, Sloppy Jane's cover from their 2015 EP Sure-Tuff reached notable success on TikTok as a sound byte in a variety of SFX/makeup transformation videos.