This novelty song, about an alien creature coming to Earth because it wants to perform in a rock and roll band, was a number one hit for Sheb Wooley in 1958. He took less than an hour to write it after getting the idea from a joke told by a friend's child.

There appears to be some ambiguity in that the creature is generally thought of as being purple in colour and dangerous because it eats people, but in fact it is perfectly safe - for earth's inhabitants at least - as it quite clearly points out that it only eats purple people!

The song refers to various other hit songs from that time, such as "Short Shorts" (The Royal Teens, 1958), "Tequila" (The Champs, 1958) and "Tutti Frutti" (1955). I left out the "Tequila" bit though.

Barry Cryer's cover was a number-one hit in Finland, where Sheb Wooley's version was not released for contractual reasons.

Other artists who covered the song include Judy Garland, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Screaming Lord Sutch.

As this is one of the songs I loved as a child, I consider it a children's song.

A playlist of my children's songs is here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9A4DBB328B5832A5

For lyrics and chords of my songs, please see my website: http://www.raymondcrooke.com