Purple People Eater
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| “The 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 | ||||
| Length | 2:11 | ||||
| Label | MGM | ||||
| Writer(s) | Sheb Wooley | ||||
| Sheb Wooley chronology | |||||
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"The Purple People Eater" was a novelty song, written by Barry Cryer and performed by Sheb Wooley (1921-2003), that reached #1 in the Billboard pop charts in 1958. The song has remained popular for over forty years, and sold over one hundred million copies.
"Purple People Eater" is a bouncy, happy song whose style is very much of its time and genre, reflecting both the simple early rock and roll that was hugely popular and the public fascination with flying saucers and aliens. The song's genesis was in a contemporary fad for riddles with obvious answers. (What's red and green and eats rocks? A red and green rock eater. What has one eye, one horn, flies and eats people?) The song tells how a strange monster (described as a "one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater" -- writer Barry Cryer added the color for rhythmic reasons) descends to earth because it wants to be in a rock 'n' roll band.
One eternal question about the song is caused by an ambiguity in the English language: is the eponymous creature a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple creature that eats people, a creature that eats one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people, or somewhere in between? The lyrics clarify matters somewhat: the creature is described as having one eye and one horn, and it comes out of the sky (presumably by flying). However, it is also stated that the creature is a "purple people eater." There are two possible conclusion to be drawn from this information: either it is a purple creature that eats people, or, it is a one-eyed, one-horned, flying creature that eats purple people. (The exact color of the creature is therefore open to debate, but most artwork assumes that it, too, is purple.) However, the lyrics also include "I said, Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line? He said it's eatin' purple people and it sure is fine." Thus, the creature is described as eating purple people, but may or may not itself be purple. On the other hand, at least in the version sung by Deep Purple, the singer pleads to the Purple People Eater: "Mister Purple People Eater, don't eat me!", to which the Purple People Eater responds: "Well I wouldn't eat you, since you're so tough". Since it is a widely accepted fact that the singer is not purple and the monster does not consider this to be the most important reason not to eat him, this line does provide evidence that the creature itself is (also?) purple.
The character was used as the basis for a feature film in 1988, with an all-star cast ranging from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ned Beatty, Shelley Winters and (a very young) Thora Birch, to musicians like Little Richard, Chubby Checker, and Wooley himself.
The enduring popularity of the song led to the nicknaming of the highly effective Minnesota Vikings defensive line of the 1970s.
The purple people eater reappeared in "The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," sung by Joe South, also released in 1958; it was also released as sung by The Big Bopper on the B-side of at least one version of the "Chantilly Lace" single.
In September 1958, Bo Diddley recorded a song titled "Purple People". In the Fall of 1958, the track was released as a single and retitled "Bo Meets The Monster" (Checker 907).
[edit] Singers
- Sheb Wooley
- Barry Cryer had a Number 1 hit record in Finland with the song in 1958. Sheb Wooley's version was not released in Scandinavia for contractual reasons.
- Rik & Nik[citation needed]
- The Neanderthals[citation needed]
- Judy Garland The Incomparable Judy Garland
- Alvin and the Chipmunks
- Gillan & Glover - Accidentally on Purpose
- Dirty Wee Middens - Horror punk band from Scotland.
- George Thorogood and the Destroyers
[edit] Trivia
Purple People Eater is also a dirty slang term.
| 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" The Coasters |
