The Purple People Eater
| "Purple People Eater" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Sheb Wooley | ||||
| B-side | I Can't Believe You're Mine | |||
| Released | June 1958 | |||
| Format | 7 inch 45 R.P.M. | |||
| Genre | Pop/Novelty/R&B/Comedy rock | |||
| Length | 2:11 | |||
| Label | MGM | |||
| Writer(s) | Sheb Wooley | |||
| Sheb Wooley chronology | ||||
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"Purple People Eater" is a novelty song, written and performed by Sheb Wooley, that reached #1 in the Billboard pop charts in 1958.
Contents |
[edit] Composition
" Purple People Eater" tells how a strange creature (described as a "one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater") descends to Earth because it wants to be in a rock 'n' roll band. The premise of the song came from a joke told by the child of a friend of Wooley's; Wooley finished composing it within an hour.[1]
The creature isn't necessarily purple but rather the monster eats purple people, as shown in the following excerpt:
- "I said Mr Purple People Eater, what's your line?
- He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine
- But that's not the reason that I came to land
- I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band"
[2][3][4]
The ambiguity of the song was present when it was originally played on the radio. In responses to requests from radio DJs, listeners drew pictures that show a "people eater" colored purple.[1]
The voice of the purple people eater is a sped up recording, giving it a voice similar to, but not quite as high-pitched or as fast, as Ross Bagdasarian's "Witch Doctor", another hit from earlier in 1958; and "The Chipmunk Song" which was released late in 1958. (The Chipmunks themselves eventually covered "Purple People Eater" for their 1998 album The A-Files: Alien Songs.) The sound of a toy saxophone was produced in a similar fashion as the saxophone was originally played at a reduced speed.[1] (In the Chipmunks' cover version, there is a longer sax solo, and it was recorded and played at its normal speed.)
The song invokes phrases from several other hit songs from that era: "Short Shorts", by The Royal Teens, and "Tequila", by The Champs, both from earlier in 1958; and "Tutti Frutti" from 1955.
[edit] Recordings
The Sheb Wooley version crossed to the Billboard R&B listings, and while it did not make Billboard's country chart, it reached #4 on the Cashbox country listing. Jimmy Buffett produced and recorded a version of the song for the motion picture Contact (1997).
A cover version of the song, recorded by British comedian Barry Cryer reached #1 in the Finnish charts after contractual reasons prevented Wooley's version being released in Scandinavia.[5]
[edit] Popularity
The enduring popularity of the song led to the nicknaming of the highly effective Minnesota Vikings defensive line of the 1970s, whose team colors include purple.[6]
The character was used as the basis for a feature film in 1988, with a cast including Neil Patrick Harris, Ned Beatty, Shelley Winters, Thora Birch, Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Wooley himself.
The Hagen-Renaker ceramics company of California created a figurine of the Purple People Eater as part of its 1958-9 "Little Horribles" line. As mentioned above, the design takes its cue from a misinterpretation of the lyrics, coloring the creature purple. The figure was a best-seller. http://hagenrenakermuseum.com/WebPageLittleHorribles.shtml
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Purple, Man, Purple". Time. July 7, 1958. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,863580,00.html. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
- ^ [1] Behrends, Ehrhard, "Five minute mathematics." AMS Bookstore, 2008. ISBN 0-8218-4348-6, 9780821843482. Page 77. Discusses this article, and notes lack of associativity in English. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
- ^ [2] Pulfer, Mike, "Ask a stupid question." Cincinnati Enquirer, March 25, 2002. Says it should have been written "purple-people eater" to make clearer the apparent intent that "purple" refers to the people eaten. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
- ^ "Some records are meant to make you bust a gut." Beaumont Enterprise, June 7, 2002 (Newwsbank Article ID: 0206070061, subscription) Says the "flying purple people eater... ate purple people." Retrieved April 24, 2009.
- ^ Solsoft - www.solsoft.co.uk. "Barry Cryer OBE - Comedy Scriptwriter, Comedian & Broadcaster". Gordonpoole.com. http://www.gordonpoole.com/?artistID=769. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ "The Purple People Eaters". Bob Lurtsema's Viking Update. http://www.vikingupdate.com/history/historyprofiles/people-eaters.html. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "All I Have to Do Is Dream" by The Everly Brothers |
Billboard Top 100 number-one single (Sheb Wooley version) June 9, 1958 (6 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters |
