Songfacts®:

• Blue Öyster Cult lead singer Eric Bloom wrote the lyric, which is about aliens who come to Earth to take him away. He goes willingly, telling them, "Take me away."
  
  In his Songfacts interview, Bloom said: "If the aliens come, I'm ready to leave... if they're 'good guy' aliens."
• The Canadian guitarist Aldo Nova wrote the music to this song. He made a demo with his own lyric, but wasn't happy with the words so he took it to Eric Bloom, who wrote a new lyric. Blue Öyster Cult was working on their The Revölution by Night album at the time, and Nova agreed to let them record it.
• Blue Öyster Cult got a career boost in 1981 with their hit "Burnin' For You," which got them on MTV. They looked to follow with this track, but it failed to crack the Hot 100.
• The video was produced by John Marsh and directed by Richard Casey, who also did their "Burnin' For You" clip. With the latest in 1983 special effects, we see the alien encounter and learn that these are definitely not friendly beings.
• This song marked an early media use of the term "men in black" in reference to government agents who try to keep the existence of aliens under wraps. Bloom sings: "The men in black, their lips are sealed."
  
  It's not the first time the band made the mention: Their 1976 song "E.T.I (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" contains the line, "Three men in black said, 'Don't report this.'"
  
  The "men in black" concept assimilated into the culture in 1997 with the movie of that title starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, which spawned a franchise.