The Purple People Eater

Number four.

According to Sheb Wooley's song lyrics, this creature is a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, what, what, what? That is a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater.

One-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple people eater.

Yes, Purple People Eater.

And if you've never seen the movie or know it exists, pop a gummy and look it up on YouTube.

It's a movie that I have a fever dream about occasionally.

Now, Sheb Woolley, a lot of people probably don't know that he was an actor and a voice actor and all of that.

But Sheb Woolley was famous for something that a lot of people should know, which is Purple People Eater.

That's what he was really famous for there towards the end.

But before that, he had been an actor and TV actor, movie actor, and had done several different things there.

I think that's absolutely amazing.

I think that's, uh, that's wonderful.

Um, and it was yelled and has been in cinema history forever by Sheb Wooley, uh, who sang purple people eater.

And I absolutely love that.

Yeah.

Uh, Purple People Eater, 379, up next-

[laughs]

... as an homage to our first cold open in honor of Writhing Chrysalis.

So, yeah, really enjoyed this.

It's one of the most incredible performances of Purple People Eater.

that will definitely stick with you too.

Cool.

Yeah.

Because topping the charts is Purple People Eater performed by Sheb Woolley, followed by Yakety Yak by The Coasters, and ending the month is Patricia by the Perez Prado and his orchestra.

I

forgot what I got, Patricia.

Even if for some reason this platform doesn't appreciate it but you know what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so man we're gonna keep punching all right let's get into this all right it's time for the strangest songs and their unbelievable stories on our 50s love fest here a couple of these we covered on an earlier episode that was only up for like a few hours before it got taken down so we're gonna get into this again Kicking off the countdown at number seven, I got the story of an outer space obsession that got its start as a kid's riddle in a record label lunchroom.

The song is Sheb Wooley's Purple People Eater.

I actually sang this in grade school.

Sheb Woolley got his entertainment career going in the late 40s and early 50s as both a Hollywood actor and a country western singer.

He appeared in landmark westerns like High Noon and there's also television roles in series like Rawhide.

Wooley maintained a parallel career writing comic novelty songs and performing under a number of comedic aliases.

Prior to 1958, his musical releases only achieved moderate regional success, specifically within the country market, but he was on the hunt for a national pop crossover hit, and that's where Purple People Eater came from.

The backstory of the song starts with America's mid-century obsession with everything outer space, UFOs, and growing Cold War anxiety.