"The Purple People Eater" was a novelty song, written and performed by Sheb Wooley (1921-2003), that reached #1 in the Billboard pop charts in 1958. The song has remained popular for over fifty years, and sold one hundred million copies.[1]

"The 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 rather silly lyrics tell how a strange monster (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.

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 eats purple people, so one can conclude that 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.)

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").

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.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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).^{[citation needed]}

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.

The character was used as the basis for a feature film in 1988, with an all-star cast ranging from Neil Patrick Harris, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ned Beatty, Shelley Winters, and (a very young) Thora Birch, to musicians like Little Richard, Chubby Checker, and Wooley himself.

Kidz Bop Kids covered this song on the 2004 album Kidz Bop Halloween.

Author A. Lee Martinez's book Too Many Curses features a creature called a nurgax--which is described as a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater.[2]

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.

[edit] Singers

• Sheb Wooley
• Barry Cryer had a number-one hit record in Finland with the song in 1958. Sheb Wooley's version was not released in Scandinavia for contractual reasons.
• Judy Garland The Incomparable Judy Garland
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Gillan & Glover - Accidentally on Purpose
• George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• Bill Ramsey German version of the song under the title Wumba Tumba Schokoladeneisverkäufer, german number-four hit in April 1959

[edit] External links

• Purple People Eater at the Internet Movie Database
• Singles listings on RCS Song Titles Index