The Purple People Eater

Composition

"The 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.

The creature is not necessarily purple, but rather it eats purple people:

The creature also gives an additional reason for choosing not to eat the narrator, because the narrator is "so tough".

The ambiguity of the song was present when it was originally played on the radio. In responses to requests from radio disc jockeys, listeners drew pictures that show a "people eater" colored 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 Mike Sammes's 1957 "Pinky and Perky", or 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 recorded at a reduced speed. (The Chipmunks' cover version has 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.

Notable recordings

According to Wooley, MGM Records initially rejected the song, saying that it was not the type of music with which they wanted to be identified. An acetate of the song reached MGM Records' New York office. The acetate became popular with the office's young people. Up to 50 people would listen to the song at lunchtime. The front office noticed, reconsidered their decision, and decided to release the song.

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.

A parody version of the song, "Purple Herring Fresser", with English-Yiddish lyrics by Lee Tully, was released shortly after the original in 1958.

Judy Garland recorded the song on her 1958 Capitol Records album Garland at the Grove, accompanied by Freddy Martin & his Orchestra, issued as Capitol T 1118 (mono) and ST 1118 (stereo).

Ben Colder, the alter ego of Sheb Wooley, released a version of the song in 1967 titled "The Purple People Eater #2" on the MGM label.

A cover version recorded by British comedian Barry Cryer reached no. 1 in the Finnish charts after contractual reasons prevented Wooley's version being released in Scandinavia.

Wooley re-recorded the song in 1979 under the title "Purple People Eater" and it was released on the King label.

Jimmy Buffett produced and recorded a version of the song for the motion picture Contact (1997).

Popularity

The Hagen-Renaker ceramics company of California created a figurine of the Purple People Eater as part of its 1958–59 "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.

The enduring popularity of the song led to the nicknaming of the highly effective "Purple People Eaters", the Minnesota Vikings defensive line of the 1970s, whose team colors include purple.

From 1982, major British toy manufacturer Waddingtons marketed a children's game inspired by the song. Players competed to remove tiny "people" from the rubber Purple People Eater shell, using tweezers on a wire loop which activated an alarm if coming into contact with its metal jaws.

The character was used as the basis for the film Purple People Eater (1988), with a cast including Neil Patrick Harris, Ned Beatty, Shelley Winters, Thora Birch, Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Wooley himself.