I Have Returned

I Have Returned was Ray Stevens' twenty-second studio album and his second for MCA Records, released in 1985. The pictures on both the front and the back of the album were taken in the Mississippi Sound near Biloxi, Mississippi according to the album credits. Those sharp in the history of America's participation in World War II will immediately recognize that Stevens is spoofing Douglas MacArthur, a General that served in the war and "I Have Returned" is one of his famous quotes. "The Haircut Song" and "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" were released as singles from the album. "Santa Claus Is Watching You" is a re-recording of Stevens' 1960's pop single and was re-issued as a country single around the time of the album's release and was made into a popular music video.

Stevens later re-recorded "The Pirate Song" on his 1991 album #1 With a Bullet and re-recorded the song a third time in 2000 for a hilarious music video found on Funniest Video Characters.

The first track, "Thus Cacked Henrietta", is a rendition of Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra", performed in chicken clucks. However, it's only the popular fanfare portion of the musical number and obviously not the entire performance, which lasts over thirty minutes, broken into various parts. The rendition by Stevens lasts a little over 1 minute and was his first chicken-clucking performance since 1977's "In the Mood," released under the alias "The Henhouse Five Plus Too."