Rock and Roll Alien

   Rock and Roll Alien

Suzanne Marsh

June 2^nd, 1958

“Moolk, it is time for you to leave Shook and investigate the planet earth. We Shookians have

been watching the earthlings for years. We are perplexed by what we are seeing now. People

yelling and screaming. They have very loud noises. There is one we heard the other day

that is why you are being sent there. We heard it on their radio it is called The Purple

People Eater.”

Moolk, stared at Smook as he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of one of his five stomach. Why couldn’t Smook send someone other him? He had no idea why or where he was going to. Earth was so many miles away; he had never even been off of Shook. Now he found himself on board a ship a one passenger no less. He, hoped someday he would return to Shook. Suddenly Mook’s spaceship began to descend, it crashed. He struggled out of the ship, his bright purple body simmering in the sunshine.

June 5^th, 1958

“Come on Pop, turn up the radio. Hey what is that song? Hey its cool man, real cool”

My Dad simple rolled his eyes and hoped this phase would pass quickly either that or he lost his mind quickly. I was nine years old and listing to a number one hit Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley. Pop, did as he was asked and turned it up just a tad more so I could attempt to sing along. My voice cracked as I got to the part about:

“Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin purple people eater

Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin purple people eater

‘I Like short shorts’

Flyin peuple people eater

Quite a sight to see (purple people?)”

That song would haunted me for years. I still sing along with it whenever I hear it on the

radio. I often wonder what a purple people eater would look like. I imagine other people have also, a movie was made about the song. The movie “Flyin Purple Eater” was released December 16^th, 1988. At that time I had no desire to see it, I had not really given it much thought. Who listens to such drivel anyway? The movie actually had several big names in it: Neil Patrick Harris, Shelley Winters and Ned Beatty. I watched the trailer, but somehow the flyin purple people eater did not look the way I had imagined it to look. The purple people eater’s name was, you guessed it, “Purple”. Heaven helps us was all I could mutter to myself. Purple was a hairy thing with purple hair and sort of horn coming out of his head. That part was in keeping with the song, the rest of the movie…

I must have sung that song a hundred times since then. I told my husband about it, he thought I was either kidding or crazy, one of two options. I found the words and read them to him, after which he chuckled:

“So there really is a song called the Flyin Purple Eater!”

“Yes, dear there is.”

“Can’t be any stranger than you playing the bagpipes.”

“No, I still play them upon occasion.”

I digress, getting back to the Flyin Purple People Eater, the star of the movie “Purple” just did not look like what I had always imagined a purple people eater would look like. My idea was that it would be tallish, obviously purple in color, more of saxophone jutting out of his head, sort of lisp when he spoke, that song will always be in my head, from that summer of 1958 to the present. Rock and Roll has evolved into something I don’t even recognize as music. Yes, we had all sorts of crazy songs. My generation had the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, at least those songs you could understand at least half the lyrics, today, anything goes. Maybe, I am getting to be an old fart, but music should have soul, it should be a joyous sound, not a howling contest between singers. Perhaps, I am more sarcastic than I should be about music today however I prefer music of a calmer nature.

When Flyin Purple People Eater first appeared in 1958 I was nine years old. I thought the song was great. I can remember singing along with the song more than once in the car. Dad, often wondered if I would ever learn to sing on key. I remember screaming at the top of my lungs about the purple people eater. I still remember when I sang it for my cousin who joined in the chorus, all the way to the Catskill Game Farm. Those were such carefree days.

The Flyin Purple People Eater was the number one song from June 9 to July 11, 1958, Imagine, all the kids that purchased that forty five record, dancing and singing about a one eyed, one horned flyin purple eater, what a sight to see.

It is strange how a song can stick with you, that song is sixty five years old now, yet it remains with me in my mind. Music is an expression of inner feelings. I love classical, rock, jazz, country western. We all have different tastes in music. The great masters such as Bach and Beethoven were pioneers in music, the set the standards for what music once was. Somehow I just can’t picture either one bee bopping to rap. Then again you never know. The last verse of the song Flyin Purple People Eater:

“Well, he went on his way, and then what do ya know

I saw him last night on a Tv SHOW

He was blowing it out, a-really knockin em dead

Playing rock and roll music through the horn in his head.

Words to live by hardly, amusing and entertaining yes.

Lucille Ball said it best I think when she said:

Each generation has their own music, my generation had Mersy Oats and Dosey Oats. This

generation has the Beatles. Music changes but yet it remains.