The song was so ambiguous that it prompted listeners to draw pictures of the “people eater” and most of the pictures showed him to be purple.Īs with the Chipmunk Song, which was released later that same year, the People Eater’s voice is sped up to provide the texture and timbre we’re familiar with today. The song was released in June 1958 and reached #1 on the Billboard Pop Charts and #12 on the UK singles chart from June 9-July 14 that year. I wanna get a job in a rock ‘n roll band. He said eating purple people, and it sure is fineīut that’s not the reason that I came to land I said Mr Purple People Eater, what’s your line? Many think that the creature is purple, but he actually is described in the song as eating purple people. The premise of the song originated from a joke told by the child of one of One version of a one horned one eyed purple people eaterĪpparently the joke hit a chord, because Wooley composed the song within an hour. The song was written and performed by Sheb Wooley and is classified as a novelty song. The creature is described as a “one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater” Wooley also wrote the theme song for the long running television program ' Hee Haw'.“The Purple People Eater” tells how a strange creature descends to Earth because it wants to be in a rock ‘n’ roll band. Bagdasarian has even more success in the future with the same technique, creating and recording songs by an imaginary group ' Alvin and the Chipmunks'. This technique was taken from an earlier 1958 song "The Witch Doctor" by Ross Bagdasarian. In the song, the "voice" of the Purple People Eater is a normal singing voice that was sped up on a tape recorder to be re-recorded. The song caught the imagination of radio listeners, who drew pictures of the "Purple People Eater" and sent them in to radio stations as part of local promotions. Miller grew up to have some success as a recording star as well.Įmbarking on his own recording career, Wooley wrote and recorded "The Purple People Eater", which tells the story of a strange looking creature from space, who comes to Earth because he wants to be in a rock and roll band. In the 1940s, Wooley took an interest in his wife's young cousin, Roger Miller, and taught him guitar. The song was written by Shelby "Sheb" Wooley, a character actor that appeared in many famous movies of the Western genre, as well as having a recurring role on the television series "Rawhide" which ran on CBS Television from 1959 - 1965. a tool that measures the sales of records. It was very popular and reached number one on the Billboard Charts. The Purple People Eater is a novelty song that was released and heard on the radio in 1958. Playin' rock and roll music through the horn in He was blowing it out, a'really knockin' em dead (purple people?).Īnd then he went on his way, and then what do Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple peopleeater. (sing aboop boop aboopa lopa lum bam boom). It was a crazy little ditty with a swingin' tune He started to rock, really rockin' around Purple people eater (we wear short shorts)Īnd then he swung from the tree and lit on the Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flying purple I wanna get a job in a rock and roll band. He said it's eatin' purple people and it sure is fineīut that's not the reason that I came to land One-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater It was a one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater Well he came down to earth and lit in a tree (one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater)Ī one-eyed one-horned, flyin' puple people eater It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater. It looks like a purple people eater to me. I commenced to shakin' and I said "ooh-eee" Well I saw the thing comin' out of the sky
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