This week for Song Lyric Sunday and Love is in Da Blog, Bee wanted us to write about a song I loved as a child. The Purple People Eater is certainly a childish song. But it’s fun! Having said that, it kind of confuddles the editor in me now for its misleading title. Is the Purple People Eater one-eyed, one-horned, flying monster that’s purple and eats people? Or does it only eat purple people? You’ll have to read the lyrics to find out.
The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley
Well I saw the thing comin’ out of the sky
It had the one long horn, one big eye
I commenced to shakin’ and I said “ooh-eee”
It looks like a purple eater to me
It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One eye?)
Well he came down to earth and he lit in a tree
I said Mr. Purple People Eater, don’t eat me
I heard him say in a voice so gruff
I wouldn’t eat you cuz you’re so tough
It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned flyin’ purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me (One horn?)
I said Mr. Purple People Eater, what’s your line
He said it’s eatin’ purple people and it sure is fine
But that’s not the reason that I came to land
I wanna get a job in a rock and roll band
Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin’ purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin’ purple people eater
(We wear short shorts)
Flyin’ purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me
And then he swung from the tree and he lit on the ground
He started to rock, really rockin’ around
It was a crazy ditty with a swingin’ tune
Sing a boop boop aboopa lopa lum bam boom
Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin’ purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin’ purple people eater
I like short shorts
Flyin’ little people eater
Sure looks strange to me (Purple People?)
And then 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
Playin’ rock and roll music through the horn in his head
(clarinet solo)
Read more: Sheb Wooley – The Purple People Eater Lyrics | MetroLyrics
And what’s even better is today Song Lyric Sunday is in conjunction with Love Is In Da Blog, by the beautiful Bee , at Just Fooling Around with Bee. You can join in with her prompts all month long!
That’s what I wanted to say to a teenager today as I walked past her. She was recounting some story or another to two of her friends and I swear, this is what her speech was like:
So he was like, “what?” like I don’t, like, know and it was like, “haven’t you ever like, liked someone before?” and he was like, “no,” and so I like…
and on and on it went. I seriously almost stopped to ask her if she could utter three sentences without saying the word “like” once. But I didn’t in case doing so caused her to have, like, a seizure or something.
It’s similar (see what I did there?) to listening to a hockey player give an interview.
And uh, I did my best out there, and uh, I think we played a great game, and uh…
Makes you wonder if they teach it in hockey school. Luckily they don’t hesitate to shoot the puck the way they pause between clauses.
And then there’s those who can’t seem to help dropping the f-bomb (I really hate that phrase – f-bomb) between every third and fourth word. Yeah, I won’t – don’t need to – write an example. Do I? Nah. We’ve all heard it. It can get very uncomfortable too, depending on who you’re with. Chances are there’s no point asking the f-‘ing person to stop – they’ll probably do it all the more because what are they doing it for in the first place other than to get attention?
I suppose we all have our speech patterns though. I think I see mine when I write, which makes me more aware of them. I catch my characters sounding like me… I wish they wouldn’t.
This, like, post is brought to you by, like, Stream of, like, Consciousness Saturday. You can, like, click here to join in. Do it, like, now, okay?
It’s Friday today and time for the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. It’s a lazy Friday, isn’t it? I’m lazy. I can hardly keep my eyes open. Here’s this week’s lazy prompt; I know if you’re lazy like me you’ll appreciate it:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “contraction.” Make the first word of your post a contraction. For extra points make the last word one too. Have fun!
After you’ve written your Saturday post tomorrow, please link it here at this week’s prompt page and check to make sure it’s here in the comments so others can find it and see your awesome Stream of Consciousness post. Anyone can join in!
To make your post more visible, use the SoCS badge! Just paste it in your Saturday post so people browsing the reader will immediately know your post is stream of consciousness and/or pin it as a widget to your site to show you’re a participant. Wear it with pride!!
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.
The United States of America has been crippled. Violently contained by a global military force and left without its leaders, the country has become shattered and chaotic. A decade has passed since the first strike and a new landscape has emerged where survival is more important than anything else. Who will uncover the truth behind the attack and revive this once great nation?
It certainly won’t be Cassidy and Lloyd since they couldn’t care less about that stuff. She is a young woman on a mission to honor her mother’s dying wish, which is to toss her ashes off the Golden Gate Bridge. He is an infamous serial killer she broke out of Rikers Island since hiring a bodyguard wasn’t working out. Not the perfect plan, but having an insane, oddly charming murder-junkie on your side is a plus in the Shattered States.
Bullets and swear words are going to fly as Cassidy and Lloyd travel coast to coast, facing one challenge after another . . . including Nebraska.
Curious about this broken world & these two ‘not even close to being heroes’?
Excerpt: A Relaxing Drive on the Parkway (Foul Language Warning)
The jeep hurtles through a large hole in the parkway divider, the threat of incoming traffic nothing more than a faded memory. Only three of their pursuers manage to follow with a fourth smashing into the gap and blocking the path. Not wanting to be an easy target, Cassidy keeps their vehicle swerving from one lane to another. She can hear bullets pinging off the asphalt and the abandoned cars that have been moved to the side of the road. There is another hole in the divider right before an overpass, so she drives through at the last second. Sliding into the tunnel, Cassidy watches the other vehicles pass the gap before making a tire-screeching U-turn to go in the opposite direction. Five motorcycles are heading toward them, but the heavy jeep and its driver’s refusal to get out of the way makes them an easily scattered threat. One of the bikers is unable to swerve to the side and he crashes onto the hood while his ride is sent spinning into an abandoned van.
“Get off my car!” Cassidy shouts as she reaches out the window. Grabbing the man by the ankle, she yanks him off the hood and lets him tumble into the concrete divider. “This is really going to cost me. Do you know what the penalty for your idiocy is? They kill you unless you escape to the mainland. Then you’re exiled until you find something that the Trade Barons want more than revenge. I don’t have time to go on a treasure hunt. Would you take off those sunglasses and stop humming car chase music?”
“I was only trying to complete the scene,” Lloyd argues as he calmly fires a pellet at a sedan driver. Having mixed the three types of ammo, he is happy to see a yellow orb burst on the woman’s mouth. “There’s the scratching. Now the nausea. We have a spinning and flipping car, folks. Oh, and there goes either the guy in the passenger seat or a really big ragdoll. You know, I’m starting to like what all of you have done with the place.”
“Stop killing people!” the blonde shouts, veering away from a large truck. She narrowly avoids slamming into a small car, the jeep moving off the road to complete the turn. “The more bodies we leave, the harder it will be to regain the Trade Barons’ favor. At least Neddy will send us what we need and . . . this is not the fucking time to change clothes!”
Lloyd stops with his head peeking out of his blood-covered shirt, which is high enough to reveal his scarred stomach. Figuring that he has come too far to stop, he yanks off the garment and hurls it out the window. He pouts when it flies over a car instead of covering the driver’s side of the windshield and causing a crash. Blindly reaching back, he takes a random shirt out of his bags and examines the black top in the side view mirror. The red and black mask of an old comic book character stares back at him, the face giving the illusion of grinning beneath the fabric.
“I remember reading this guy’s series before the Internet made him so popular and he turned up everywhere. Ugh, that sounded so pretentious that I’m tempted to stab myself. Hey, can we still see movies because I want to see his?” Lloyd asks while tying the laces of the black sneakers he hastily put on before making a mess at the Coliseum. “I really like t-shirts with pictures on them. They bring attention to what I’m wearing instead of my face. You can start a conversation about them too. Nice way to meet people and find out if they’re worth leaving alive or not. For example, I have a shirt with another hero and if somebody tells me that the bastard can defeat every other character then I know they have to die. I mean, he’s nothing more than a child-endangering bill-”
“Shut the fuck up, Lloyd!”
“Don’t be angry, kid. You’re doing great.”
“I can’t even figure out if we’re going in the right direction.”
“Turn around and start shooting at their tires.”
“I can’t because I need to save bullets.”
“For what?”
“Nebraska!”
About the Author:
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under orders to shut up and get to work, Charles brings you Legends of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you, and his wife is happy he finally has someone else to play with.
Anyone who would like to try it out, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a ping back, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a ping back from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our new, very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!
Searching for a truly adult, adult colouring book? Search no more. Check this out!
Note: Comments disabled here. Go to the original post to let Ionia know what you think.
J and I publishing (click to visit our spanking new blog–no, not new spanking blog…dirty minds) has been busy. I apologise that I haven’t been around much answering comments and dropping in to see how things are going, but I’ve been creating another Ionia masterpiece. (Really I’ve been messing around with art supplies like a little kid in kindergarten.)
For those of you who have had one of those days recently, or know someone who has, here’s a little something fun to do. Sorry, Chris. I’ve tried to curb the swearing, but it is an addiction.
J and I Publishing Author Page (We have tons more color books and this is the only truly adult one…kittens, puppies and all things innocent in the others.)
Ever just have one of those days where you want to randomly shout swear words but resist because you are at work…
The poll is now closed for your favourite entry in the One-Liner Wednesday badge contest, and we have a winner! In an unprecedented landslide with a whopping 42% of the 26 votes, you chose…
Wes’s badge!!
#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com
Thanks again to all the contestants. You all did a great job!
And congratulations to Wes!! Because you can’t spell “awesome” without Wes!!!
All the entries are in and now it’s time to vote for our new One-Liner Wednesday Badge! The badge that wins will be displayed here on prompt day and everywhere there is a One-Liner Wednesday post published for at least the next year to come, so vote carefully. Anyone, whether you participate in the prompt or not, can vote.
I’ll name them all to make it easier for voting purposes. Please make sure you look at all of them before you cast your vote. Here are the contestants in order according to when they entered:
There are a little more than four hours left to get your entry in for the One-Liner Wednesday Badge contest, as of the publication of this post. The contest ends tonight (Sunday February 14th/16) at midnight, EST.
We have four more entries for everyone to look at, for a total of seven so far. The new ones that weren’t part of the last reminder post are:
Please check them out early! The voting will begin sometime tomorrow; the poll will close Tuesday at noon, to give me time to announce the winner before Wednesday’s prompt is published.
When I was in high school I was a huge fan of Rush. I still am. Back then, one of their songs in particular touched me – I wrote out the lyrics hundreds of times as an angsty, lovelorn teenager. It’s a simple ballad, not something you would expect from a progressive rock band that normally deals in intricate sounds from every instrument they play.
Anyway, the lyrics were what resounded in me the most. One of my courses was a typing class, so whenever we had free practice time I’d type the lyrics to Madrigal. It’s probably not one you’ve heard unless you own the album A Farewell to Kings. Here are the lyrics as I still remember them. If I’ve made a slight mistake it’s because I haven’t written them out in about 35 years:
Madrigal
When the dragons grow too mighty
To slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
And the storm I walk toward
When all around is madness And there’s no safe port in view I long to turn my path homeward To stop a while with you.
When life becomes as barren And as cold as winter skies There’s a beacon in the darkness In a distant pair of eyes
In vain to search for order And in vain to search for truth But these things can still be given Your love has shown me proof.
And what’s even better is today Song Lyric Sunday is in conjunction with Love Is In Da Blog, by the beautiful Bee , at Just Fooling Around with Bee. You can join in with her prompts all month long!
lindaghill.com 