Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy high-school student in a very revealing polka dot bikini bathing suit (which she apparently did not try on beforehand) who stays immersed in the ocean water to hide from view, while other high-schoolers gossip about her. It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and first released on August 8, 1960 by Brian Hyland. Hyland's version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and also made the top 10 in other countries.

History

In September 2006, the song's co-writer Paul Vance read his own mistaken obituary.^[1] Paul Van Valkenburgh, who had long claimed to have written the song, died and the false information was included in the newspaper. The impostor had explained his lack of royalty payments for the song by further claiming that he'd sold the rights to his alleged composition 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 Wilder film comedy One, Two, Three — in a key scene, the character Otto (Horst Buchholz), suspected of being a spy, is being "tortured" by East German police playing the song to him repetitively, eventually with the record off-center to create a ghastly 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 American 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.

At the beginning of 2006 this song was also used in an advert for TV Easy magazine.

Cover versions

There have been cover versions in many languages, for example, a French and Italian version by Dalida in 1960. It's also been sung in German with Club Honolulu the same year (Caterina Valente & brother Silvio Francesco). It was also remade in 1990 by Bombalurina which featured Timmy Mallet, 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. There is even a Brazilian version of the song named Biquini de Bolinha Amarelinha by Celly Campello that was a huge success.

A Spanish version, titled "Bikin Amaraillo", very faithful to the original, was an enormous hit for Mexican singer Manolo Muñoz in the 1960s. Manolo Muñoz covered many popular roc tunes, including a version of Orbison's "Pretty Woman" called "Ay Preciosa", "Lucille" by Little Richard, among several others.

Another interesting cover version is El Cohete Americano, a Cuban propaganda song sung by Las D'Aida in Album de la Revolucion Cubana (2000).

References

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