This piece revisits three unconventional songs from the 1960s that defied expectations by becoming genuine chart hits, despite their strange concepts, sounds and presentation. It argues that the psychedelic era's more open-minded listeners allowed novelty and experimental tracks to break through in a way that would be unusual for mainstream charts today.

The examples include Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" (1966), a masked performer's oddity about a psychiatric hospital admission that reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100; Tiny Tim's falsetto ukulele cover "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" (1968), which hit No. 17 and later found new fame via a horror film; and "The Legend Of Xanadu" (1968) by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, a psychedelic pop track that topped the UK Singles chart and several European charts, though it missed the US Hot 100 entirely.