Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Encyclopedia
"Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song
telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot
bikini
at the beach, who in the first verse is too afraid to leave the locker where she has changed into her bikini; in the second, she has made it to the beach but sits on the sand wrapped in a blanket; and in the closing verse, she has finally gone into the ocean, but is too afraid to come out, and stays immersed in the water – despite the fact that she's "turning blue", to quote the song's lyrics – to hide herself from view. It was written by Paul Vance
and Lee Pockriss
and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland
with orchestra conducted by John Dixon
as "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini." Hyland's version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100
on August 8, 1960 and also made the top 10 in other countries, including #8 on the UK Singles Chart
. Trudy Packer recited the phrases "One, two, three, four/Tell the people what she wore", heard at the end of each verse before the chorus; and "Stick around, we'll tell you more", heard after the first chorus and before the start of the second verse.
film comedy One, Two, Three
— in a key scene, the character Otto (Horst Buchholz
), suspected of being a spy, is being torture
d by East German
police playing the song to him repetitively, eventually with the record off-center to create a weird howling variation of pitch. The actual recording was re-released in 1962 to capitalize on the film's success, but it did not rechart.
A faster version of the song appears on North America
n commercials for Yoplait
Light yogurt. The song is also used in a television
commercial for the YWCA
, and in films such as Sister Act 2 and Revenge of the Nerds II.
The song was also featured in the 1981 Aparna Sen
film 36 Chowringhee Lane
.
At the beginning of 2006 this song was also used in an advert for TV Easy magazine.
A French version of the song is used in the last shots and credits of the movie A Good Year
.
bathing suits were still seen as too risqué to be mainstream, the song prompted a sudden takeoff in bikini sales and is credited as being one of the earliest contributors to the acceptance of the suit in society. The early '60s saw a slew of surf movie
s and other film
and television
productions that rapidly built on the song's momentum.
s in many languages, for example, a French
and Italian version ("Pezzettini di bikini") by Dalida
in 1960.
It has also been sung in German with Club Honolulu (Caterina Valente
& her brother Silvio Francesco) the same year. It was also remade in 1990 by Bombalurina which featured Timmy Mallett
, star of then-popular United Kingdom
children's television show, Wacaday
. The song reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart
on August 19, 1990, and stayed at the position for three weeks. The song was released around the world and topped the charts in over a dozen countries, selling more than a million copies. Another version was made by Devo
on the CD Pioneers Who Got Scalped
. The video featured Timmy Mallett along with two dancers, Dawn and Annie. Dawn later went onto marry Gary Barlow
of Take That
fame. The Devo
version of the song had appeared in the film Revenge of the Nerds II, but was unavailable on CD until the release of the Pioneers
album. Kermit the Frog
and Miss Piggy
covered the song for their 1993 Muppet
album Muppet Beach Party.
A Brazilian version, a little faithful to the original, titled "Biquíni de Bolinha Amarelinha Tão Pequenininho," (LP Ronnie Cord, Copacabana CLP 11.164, outubro de 1960) was a hit in 1960 when it was sung by Ronnie Cord, and had some re-recordings, as Blitz's 1983 version.
In 1983, the british group Echo & The Bunnymen
composed and recorded the song Do It Clean, released on Porcupine album, which lyric lines were inspired by the Hyland's hit: "Iszy bitzy witzy itzy everywhere / I've been here and I've been there".
A Bulgarian version called Tulip Themed Bathing Suit (Бански на лалета) sung by the children group Sparrows (Врабчета) contains kids-friendly comic lyrics. In the lyrics a girl falls in love with a boy impressed by his tulip themed swimming suit among other things.
Another interesting cover version is El Cohete Americano, a Cuban propaganda song sung by Las D'Aida in Album de la Revolucion Cubana
(2000).
A Finnish version, titled "Pikku pikku bikinissä" was sung by Pirkko Mannola in 1961.
In Greek, it was sung by Polina (Πωλίνα), with the title "Το ροζ μπικίνι" (Roz Bikini). In Serbian, it was sung by Ljiljana Petrović with the title "Bikini sa žutim tačkicama". In Croatian, there is a cover by the group Trio Tividi, titled simply "Bikini".
A Spanish version, titled "Bikini Amarillo," very faithful to the original, was an enormous hit for Mexican singer Manolo Muñoz in the 1960s.
A parody
of the song was used for a TV Easy magazine advert entitled 'I need an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie TV Easy Magaziney'.
punk
band Die Toten Hosen
covered the Club Honolulu version (in German
) on their 1987 cover album
Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen
. It was released as a promo single under the alias Die Roten Rosen. Also, on the 2007 re-release the English
version was added as a bonus track
.
Novelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot
Polka dot
Polka dot is a pattern consisting of an array of filled circles, generally equally sized and spaced relatively closely in relation to their diameters. Polka dots are most commonly seen on children's clothing, toys, and furniture, but they appear in a wide array of contexts...
bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
at the beach, who in the first verse is too afraid to leave the locker where she has changed into her bikini; in the second, she has made it to the beach but sits on the sand wrapped in a blanket; and in the closing verse, she has finally gone into the ocean, but is too afraid to come out, and stays immersed in the water – despite the fact that she's "turning blue", to quote the song's lyrics – to hide herself from view. It was written by Paul Vance
Paul Vance
Paul Vance is an American songwriter and record producer.With over 300 recorded songs, Vance co-wrote such hits as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," recorded in 1960 by Brian Hyland, which rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and "Catch a Falling Star," recorded in 1957 by...
and Lee Pockriss
Lee Pockriss
Lee Julian Pockriss was an American songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows.-Early life and career:...
and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland
Brian Hyland
Brian Hyland is an American pop recording artist who was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He continued recording into the 1970s...
with orchestra conducted by John Dixon
John Dixon
John Dixon may refer to:*John Dixon , Nottinghamshire cricketer and international footballer*John Dixon , Member of Parliament for Carlisle, England, 1847–1848...
as "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini." Hyland's version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on August 8, 1960 and also made the top 10 in other countries, including #8 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Trudy Packer recited the phrases "One, two, three, four/Tell the people what she wore", heard at the end of each verse before the chorus; and "Stick around, we'll tell you more", heard after the first chorus and before the start of the second verse.
Ownership controversy
In September 2006, the song's co-writer Paul Vance read his own mistaken obituary. The obituary was of another man, Paul Van Valkenburgh, who claimed to have written the song under the name Paul Vance. The impostor explained his lack of royalty payments for the song by claiming that he'd sold the rights as a teenager. Vance, the song's true co-author, has earned several million dollars from the song since 1960, describing it as "a money machine."In other media
The song was featured in the 1961 Billy WilderBilly Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
film comedy One, Two, Three
One, Two, Three
One, Two, Three is a 1961 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and written by him and I.A.L. Diamond. It is based on the 1929 Hungarian one-act play Egy, kettö, három by Ferenc Molnár, with a "plot borrowed partly from" Ninotchka, a 1939 film co-written by Wilder...
— in a key scene, the character Otto (Horst Buchholz
Horst Buchholz
Horst Werner Buchholz was a German actor, remembered for his part in The Magnificent Seven and Nine Hours to Rama. He appeared in over sixty films during his acting career from 1952–2002.-Life and work:...
), suspected of being a spy, is being torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d by East German
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
police playing the song to him repetitively, eventually with the record off-center to create a weird howling variation of pitch. The actual recording was re-released in 1962 to capitalize on the film's success, but it did not rechart.
A faster version of the song appears on North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n commercials for Yoplait
Yoplait
Yoplait is a brand of yogurt produced by a company owned by two French holdings, SODIAAL and PAI Partners.-History:In 1964, 100,000 French farmers merged their regional dairy cooperatives to sell nationally. In 1965, two co-ops, "Yola" and "Coplait", merged, becoming "Yoplait"...
Light yogurt. The song is also used in a television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
commercial for the YWCA
YWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
, and in films such as Sister Act 2 and Revenge of the Nerds II.
The song was also featured in the 1981 Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
film 36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringhee Lane
36 Chowringee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role and Debashree Roy.-Plot:...
.
At the beginning of 2006 this song was also used in an advert for TV Easy magazine.
A French version of the song is used in the last shots and credits of the movie A Good Year
A Good Year
A Good Year is a 2006 British romantic comedy film, set in London and Provence. It was directed by Ridley Scott, with an international cast including Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish and Albert Finney...
.
Impact
At a time when bikiniBikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
bathing suits were still seen as too risqué to be mainstream, the song prompted a sudden takeoff in bikini sales and is credited as being one of the earliest contributors to the acceptance of the suit in society. The early '60s saw a slew of surf movie
Surf movie
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:*the surfing documentary - targeting the surfing enthusiast*the 1960s beach party films - targeting the broader community and*fictional feature films with a focus on the reality of surfing...
s and other film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
productions that rapidly built on the song's momentum.
Cover versions and parodies
There have been cover versionCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s in many languages, for example, a French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Italian version ("Pezzettini di bikini") by Dalida
Dalida
Dalida , born with Italian name of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a world-famous singer and actress born in Egypt with Italian origins but naturalised French with the name Yolanda Gigliotti. She spent her early years in Egypt amongst the Italian Egyptian community, but she lived most of her adult...
in 1960.
It has also been sung in German with Club Honolulu (Caterina Valente
Caterina Valente
Caterina Valente is a singer, dancer, and actress. She was born into an Italian artist family; her father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player, her mother, Maria Valente, a musical clown...
& her brother Silvio Francesco) the same year. It was also remade in 1990 by Bombalurina which featured Timmy Mallett
Timmy Mallett
Timmy Mallett is a TV presenter and broadcaster in the UK. He achieved cult status on BBC Radio Oxford and Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and later on TV-am...
, star of then-popular United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
children's television show, Wacaday
Wacaday
Wacaday was a children's television series in the UK that ran in TV-am's school-holidays slot from 1985 until 1992, in an 8:50-9:25 a.m. slot, and was hosted by Timmy Mallett....
. The song reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
on August 19, 1990, and stayed at the position for three weeks. The song was released around the world and topped the charts in over a dozen countries, selling more than a million copies. Another version was made by Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
on the CD Pioneers Who Got Scalped
Pioneers Who Got Scalped
Pioneers Who Got Scalped is an anthology by the rock band Devo, released in 2000. 17 of the 50 tracks are previously unissued on CD, including b-sides, remixes, soundtrack songs and spoken word material...
. The video featured Timmy Mallett along with two dancers, Dawn and Annie. Dawn later went onto marry Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow
Gary Barlow is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and record producer. He is frontman and lead vocalist of pop group Take That and is currently the head judge on the eighth series of The X Factor. Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters...
of Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
fame. The Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
version of the song had appeared in the film Revenge of the Nerds II, but was unavailable on CD until the release of the Pioneers
Pioneers Who Got Scalped
Pioneers Who Got Scalped is an anthology by the rock band Devo, released in 2000. 17 of the 50 tracks are previously unissued on CD, including b-sides, remixes, soundtrack songs and spoken word material...
album. Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog
Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over...
and Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy
Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002....
covered the song for their 1993 Muppet
The Muppets
The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson starting in 1954–55. Although the term is often used to refer to any puppet that resembles the distinctive style of The Muppet Show, the term is both an informal name and legal trademark owned by the Walt Disney Company in reference...
album Muppet Beach Party.
A Brazilian version, a little faithful to the original, titled "Biquíni de Bolinha Amarelinha Tão Pequenininho," (LP Ronnie Cord, Copacabana CLP 11.164, outubro de 1960) was a hit in 1960 when it was sung by Ronnie Cord, and had some re-recordings, as Blitz's 1983 version.
In 1983, the british group Echo & The Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
composed and recorded the song Do It Clean, released on Porcupine album, which lyric lines were inspired by the Hyland's hit: "Iszy bitzy witzy itzy everywhere / I've been here and I've been there".
A Bulgarian version called Tulip Themed Bathing Suit (Бански на лалета) sung by the children group Sparrows (Врабчета) contains kids-friendly comic lyrics. In the lyrics a girl falls in love with a boy impressed by his tulip themed swimming suit among other things.
Another interesting cover version is El Cohete Americano, a Cuban propaganda song sung by Las D'Aida in Album de la Revolucion Cubana
Album de la Revolucion Cubana
Álbum de la Revolución Cubana is a publication on the history of the Cuban Revolution. It consists of two parts: comic book and music CD.-Álbum de la Revolución Cubana Music:This album is released in 2000 by Cuba Soul...
(2000).
A Finnish version, titled "Pikku pikku bikinissä" was sung by Pirkko Mannola in 1961.
In Greek, it was sung by Polina (Πωλίνα), with the title "Το ροζ μπικίνι" (Roz Bikini). In Serbian, it was sung by Ljiljana Petrović with the title "Bikini sa žutim tačkicama". In Croatian, there is a cover by the group Trio Tividi, titled simply "Bikini".
A Spanish version, titled "Bikini Amarillo," very faithful to the original, was an enormous hit for Mexican singer Manolo Muñoz in the 1960s.
A parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the song was used for a TV Easy magazine advert entitled 'I need an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie TV Easy Magaziney'.
Die Roten Rosen cover
GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen is a German punk band from Düsseldorf. They have enjoyed decades-long mass appeal in Germany.The band's name literally means "The Dead Pants" in English, although the phrase "tote Hose" is a German expression meaning "nothing going on" or "boring"...
covered the Club Honolulu version (in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
) on their 1987 cover album
Cover Album
-Tracklisting:#Misono to Utaou! Animedley I # #...
Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen
Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen
Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen, sometimes Never Mind the Hosen, Here's Die Roten Rosen is the first cover album of the German punk band Die Toten Hosen, released under the pseudonym Die Roten Rosen . The band covers German schlagers on the album. This is the first DTH album to reach...
. It was released as a promo single under the alias Die Roten Rosen. Also, on the 2007 re-release the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version was added as a bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
.
Track listing
- "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Honolulu-Strand-Bikini" − 1:54
- "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow-Polkadot-Bikini" – 2:08
See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1960 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles from the 1990s (UK)