Talk:The Purple People Eater

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I have recently been in vietnam and in the war museum there is a picture of a US soldier next to a bomb with "purple people eater" written on it. agent orange was a chemical sprayed on the forests to kill the leaves on the trees and agent orange was almost exactly the same as "agent purple..."

the chemical caused numerous health problems in the Vietnamese and still does today.

any idea if theres any connection!

maybe just a "joke" by the soldier —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.10.36.211 (talk) 16:17, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Agent Purple was only one of a number of Rainbow Herbicides that were sprayed over Vietnam: See this link

Now as to the idea of why it was named "The Purple People Eater," The theory goes like this, national emblems (country markings on planes such as the yellow stars on red flags, stars and stripes, etc.) Were to identify aircraft by country of origin (know your enemy). Names and "nose art" on bombers were like an army yelling to prove it's courage. They were personal emblems check this [[1]] It was never official marking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Martybee 98 (talk • contribs) 00:56, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

"all-star cast"

What does "all-star" mean? Apparently: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ned Beatty & Shelley Winters. Ah yes.

bbc game?

does nobody else remember Purple People Eater as being a game for the BBC Micro? Everything2 has the tiniest mention here

Remember it, I wrote it, released through a little place in Romford. Actually, was based on (cleanroom rewrite) another program in a mag for a different system, the movement logic was my own. Movement logic, at first, used a recursive algorithm to decide if a direction was blocked, though this was later replaced in a rewrite for the somewhat slower Electron, as the recursive algorithm was just too slow. Ace of Risk (talk) 02:25, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Purple-People Eater

The lyrics clearly state he eats Purple People.

"I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line" "He said eatin' purple people and it sure is fine"

The only dispute I see is the fact that the 1988 film "Purple People Eater" has a Purple People-Eater.

The article should be changed to reflect this. However I think the fact that the title of the song does not reflect this should be retained.

Since people are not generally purple, and the only reason the creature gives for not eating the human is that he is 'too tough', we need to consider the possibility that he is not only one eyed and one horned, but also colour blind. We can hardly wonder that, with such evolutionary disadvantages, this extraterrestrial species is so rarely seen these days.--kscally 09:28, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

This qualifier would also not appear to protect Deep Purple from predation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.2.40.144 (talk) 19:26, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Original research tag

The discussion of whether "purple" refers to the monster or the people it eats is uncited, and has an unencyclopedic, speculative tone, so I marked it as original research. Demian12358 (talk) 22:07, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Who cares, it's funny! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.154.197.122 (talk) 14:24, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

It isn't "original research," it is good writing, of which there is way too little on Wikipedia.--Paul (talk) 21:38, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

This was a good song. More 02:55, 5 January 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by SlamMeMore (talk • contribs)

I have restored two paragraphs from the very early history of this article (included below). The material provides a bit of background to the time when the song was released in the 1950s, noting the fascination with flying saucers and aliens, as well as some witty commentary on the ambiguity and punning nature of the song, which, no doubt, was part of its charm.

"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.)

This material was extended over the life of the article, but it was not improved. I have therefore gone back to the original prose which is both concise and entertaining, something which is very rare on Wikipedia.--Paul (talk) 03:17, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

It is rare because it is out of place. The purpose of Wikipedia is to be informative, not entertaining. 99.174.233.4 (talk) 15:48, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Note the addition of references showing that the distinction is a meaningful one, and coming down on the side of it being "purple people" which the creature seeks to consume. Edison (talk) 20:54, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

I am struggling

with this sentence:

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.

and will probably remove it unless someone brings up exactly what phrase, for example, is borrowed from Tequila. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 15:47, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

The phrase borrowed from "Tequila" is the exclamation "Tequila!" (which is the entirety of that song's "lyrics") 66.249.175.245 (talk) 08:55, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Color of narrator's skin

This has been a subject of disagreement lately: the article had made a remark based on the assumption that the song's first-person narrator is not himself a "purple person", but PhilPH challenged this assumption as unfounded. I made a probably ill-worded edition to call Wooley (who does not have purple skin) the narrator, on the basis that the use of first-person inherently implies that the singer is the narrator, to which Phil responded, reasonably enough, "Clearly the experiences described in the song are not Wooley's, so why assume the narrator of the song is Wooley? Mick Jagger isn't the Devil."

In response to Phil's argument, I'd like to clarify that I agree that singing in first-person does not imply that the singer is the narrator in real life. What I should have said, rather, is that, because a song sung in the first person inherently asserts that the singer is the narrator, it implies that nothing about that assertion is controverted by the song itself, as sung (clearly a much narrower claim than what I originally said). I further concede that nothing about the lyrics or Wooley's delivery implies anything about the color of the narrator's skin, to an audience that only hears the performance. However, I maintain that a live performance by a non-purple-skinned singer would imply that the narrator does not have purple skin. Since Wooley did perform this song live (citation perhaps required, but can be found), I maintain that the song is clearly meant to be interpreted without the assumption that the narrator has purple skin. JudahH (talk) 19:26, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

You're giving it a much more ponderous philosophical interpretation than either Sheb Wooley or 99 % of his listeners gave it in 1958. Purple was probably chosen in part because it's a particularly implausible hue for human skin... AnonMoos (talk) 17:57, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

The ponderousness is not in support of some esoteric philosophical interpretation, but an attempt to spell out the reasoning behind what I expect most people would consider obvious: that the song is not meant to imply that the narrator has purple skin. You agree with that yourself, but PhilPH apparently does not. JudahH (talk) 20:48, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed this. Your philosophical justification is wholly convincing to me, and I'm proud to have prompted it. Phil PH (talk) 16:03, 22 February 2017 (UTC)

P.S. "I wouldn't eat you because you're so tough" is probably an additional reassurance (it's implied that Not only are you not purple, but also...). AnonMoos (talk) 18:08, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

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Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Second season of show "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" also features this song and Purple People Eater himself also.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.252.126.125 (talk • contribs)

Per WP:IPCV you'll need to provide an independent source that's taken note of this use of the song. DonIago (talk) 02:40, 1 September 2022 (UTC)

German adaptation

Bill Ramsey did a German cover called "Wumba-Tumba Schokoladeneisverkäufer" (really!), which is at first glance a completely different subject, but in fact the lyrical content is pretty similar except for the fact that the alien also sells chocolate ice cream. Also, it has the hilarious addition of the narrator worrying the alien might ram its horn into his leg.

I'm sure some sources can be found to include this rather memorable version (it's mentioned in the German article), although the cover didn't chart. Jules TH 16 (talk) 23:12, 31 October 2023 (UTC)