Wooley made “The Purple People Eater”’s alien voice and saxophone solo (played through a horn in his head!) squeaky and high-pitched by recording a normal voice and sax solo and later speeding up the tape. And the one that took off had nothing to do with six-guns and spurs it was “The Purple People Eater,” which skewered the musical crazes of the time by envisaging a grotesque space invader taking the bait. (In 1953, he appeared as Private Wilhelm, a character who gets shot with an arrow and emits the scream in 1953’s The Charge at Feather River.)Īmid all his onscreen work, Wooley never stopped writing songs. The classic “Wilhelm scream” – the immortal “Aaaagh!” used in films from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to The Lord of the Rings – is believed to be Wooley. He appeared in Western films like 1950’s Rocky Mountain and 1952’s High Noon and TV series like The Lone Ranger. Here’s where it came from.įrom his 1946 recorded debut “Oklahoma Honky-Tonky Gal” up to “The Purple People Eater,” the public primarily knew Wooley for his cowboy songs and hillbilly tunes.
That year produced a slew of foundational rock hits, like the Royal Teens’ “Short Shorts” and the Champs’ “Tequila.” Over an irresistible boogie-woogie rhythm, the extraterrestrial squeaks references to those two hits – “I like short shorts!” “Tequila!” – as well as the immortal gobbledygook from Little Richard’s 1955 barnstormer “Tutti Frutti.”Ībove all, “The Purple People Eater’s” purpose is to make bodies move and tickle funny bones. And it’s safe to say that in 1958, that was a fairly common desire. Well, we know one thing the Purple People Eater wants – to rock ‘n roll.
The creature has “one long horn, one big eye.” He’s “pigeon-toed, undergrowed.” But when the narrator frets, “Looks like a purple people eater to me!” It begs the questions: To what other purple people eaters can he compare him? Does Wooley’s clarification that he eats purple people – that he’s not necessarily purple himself – mean we’re all off the hook? In 1958, Sheb Wooley unleashed “The Purple People Eater” from his imagination into the airwaves.
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