Quotation from the TMBG Early Years Handbook, maintained by Myke Weiskopf <jerk@execpc.com>.

16. What is "Purple Toupee" about?

"Purple Toupee" is sung from the vantage point of someone the Johns' age, born in the tail end of the '50s or very early 1960's, who was alive during the '60s but has only the vaguest recollections of what it was all about. This person's memories of '60s politics, although declared in an authoritative tone, are totally muddled and shambolic. To this person, the only real link he has with the '60s are the flashy clothes: the "purple toupee and gold lame" of the chorus. The clothes are the representation of the entire decade, politics and all. (If this interpretation does not sit well with you, I wish to inform you that it comes straight from John Linnell.)

While the facts contained within this document are not copyrightable, the style, organization, and content of the document is copyright (c) 1994 Myke Weiskopf. Please do not reprint or quote without permission. This document features information previously published in OBSCURE Magazine, No. 5 ("They Might Be Giants"), which is copyright (c) 1994 Obscure Publications / Myke Weiskopf.

Quotation from the TMBG FAQ, maintained by John Relph <relph@engr.sgi.com>.

30. What is "Purple Toupee" all about?

As interpreted by:

• jens_alfke@quickmail.apple.com (Jens Alfke)
• brown@merlin.plk.af.mil (Justin)
• Sadiye Guler <guler@ecs.umass.edu>
• melinda@world.std.com (Melinda M Hale)
• Guy Jacobson <guy@research.att.com>
• tracyk@cs.washington.edu (Tracy Kimbrel)
• John Relph <relph@engr.sgi.com>
• schmidt@kickapoo.cs.iastate.edu (William J. Schmidt)
• trainman@merle.acns.nwu.edu (Jim Ellwanger)
• jason.kreitzer%goucher@wb3ffv.ampr.org (Jason Kreitzer)

I remember, the year I went to camp,
I heard about some lady named Selma and some blacks

Civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, and the fact that Rosa Parks, who would not move to the back of the bus, is a black woman.

somebody put their finger in the president's ears
it wasn't too much later they came out with Johnson's Wax

During the Johnson administration, and perhaps before, the following were a popular type of stupid riddle:

Q: How do you make a Venetian blind?
A: Poke his eyes out!

Q: How do you make Johnson's wax?
A: Put your finger in the president's ear!

Johnson's Wax is a polishing product made by S.C. Johnson Wax. There was specifically a famous photograph that was published at the time, showing Johnson holding this hound dog by the ears. I think it made a stir because it made the president look like a buffoon (the strange pose plus LBJ's own sizable ears).

Could be a reference to "finger on the trigger" and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Also could refer to Johnson's implacable attitude towards continuing the Vietnam War, despite the mood of the country, advice of aides, etc.

I remember the book depository where they crowned the King of Cuba

The book depository where Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's assassin, hid, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and of course the Cuban missile crisis (with JFK in office). Also since Oswald was supposedly involved in a CIA plan to overthrow Castro (the King of Cuba).

That's all I can think of, but I'm sure there's something else,
way down inside me I can hear it coming back

Purple toupee will show the way when summer brings you down
Purple toupee and gold lame will turn your brain around

"Purple Toupee" could be a play on both the title and the music of Prince's song "Raspberry Beret".

Purple is widely regarded as the color of psychadelia.

Jimi Hendrix' biggest smash hit was, of course, Purple Haze. Jimi didn't wear a toupee, but had a wild hairstyle, and wore gold lame (at the same time as every color of the rainbow; He certainly had a unique sense of fashion). Purple Haze and some of the rest of Jimi's debut album are definitely about drugs. There was a variety of LSD known as Purple Haze, though I don't know whether it was named after the song or vice versa. Another possible (drug-free) interpretation of "turn your brain around": Jimi was and still is considered one of the most (if not the most) influential rock musicians in history. He turned the music world upside-down.

Chinese people were fighting in the park
we tried to help them fight, no one appreciated that

But it seems to me that one of the leading Asian generals on one side of either the Vietnam or Korean War was named General Park. I've always thought that's what the "park" here was referring to. This may also be a reference to the fact that the USA "interfered" in the Vietnam War.

Martin X was mad when they outlawed bell bottoms
ten years later they were sharing the same cell

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. again, and Malcolm X (ten years later they were both dead).

I shouted out "Free the expo '67" 'till they stomped on my hair,

Abby Hoffman and the Chicago 7 were widely regarded as political prisoners following their arrest for disrupting the Democratic National Convention in 1968. This probably is a confused reference to "Free the Chicago 7". Also a possible reference to the De Gaulle's "Libre Quebec" speech at Expo '67, in Montreal, Quebec.

and they told me I was fat

When the Beatles first arrived in the US during the British Invasion, John was just a trifle porky. The newspapers immediately dubbed him "the fat Beatle".

Now I'm very big, I'm a big important man
and the only thing that's different is underneath my hat.

Purple toupee is here to stay
after the hair has gone away
the purple brigade is marching from the grave

Hair was a popular and influential Broadway musical, from which came the songs "Aquarius" (the dawning of the age of aquarius / the spawning of the cage and aquarium), "Let the Sun Shine In", and of course, "Hair" (give me a head with hair / long beautiful hair).

Louise <Mowder@zodiac.rutgers.edu> writes:

People who saw John&John in the new york area prior to 1988 may remember that Purple Toupee was ALWAYS dedicated to Joe Franklin, a local TV personality whose very-late-night show was a celebration of local, rather Times-Square of the '50s talent... comics, singers, minor celebs etc.

Joe, who just retired last year, would be very generous with his air time, and it was on The Joe Franklin Show that John & John first met the etherealized waves -- back in '83-84, I beleive.

Anyway, if you ever saw Joe, you'd know that "Purple Toupee" and "gold lame" are both appropriate to the show's dress code.

The show had been on in the NYC area since forever, and by the '80s was the site of a lot of cultural nostalgia for those of us who were little kids in the real early 60s, as the Johns were. "Lady named Selma and some blacks" and the President's ear joke are about the way that Big Current Events sound to a first grader in 1964. And The Joe Franklin Show always seemed stuck right about there.

For those of you who caught the 7-night extravaganza in NYC last year, you may remember that Joe Franklin introduced TMBG on the final night, and briefly reminisced about their early days. This was the night when the show that consisted of the exact replication of the first album (the Bar-None/ Rodney Alan album). The show brought back extremely fond memories of crowded nights at Darinka. (Anyone else remember Darinka?)

Ori S. Abrams <funhouse@ix.netcom.com> writes:

I think it is simply about the rewards one receives for being ignorant. The narrator clearly never payed any attention to the important events happening around him during the 60's. Yet today he's important (albeit bald) and living high on the hog.

This document copyright (c) 1995 by John Relph. While some information included herein is not copyright and may be used without permission, the compilation of this information in this document in this format is copyright and may not be published in any form whatsoever without the permission of the author. Just ask. This document may be distributed electronically and otherwise if and only if the entire copyright notice and attributions are included.

Quoth David Drake <drake@mail.stratalt.com>:

I agree mostly with the full song description listed on the P.T. interp page. However I have always taken the "crown" in:

I remember the book depository where they crowned the King of Cuba

to mean that the King of Cuba (JFK because he "won" the Bay of Pigs standoff) was crowned in the sense of being hit over the head (or shot in the head). I have counted this line among the most brilliant lyrics I have ever come across and the song as a whole, one of my favorite TMBG.

Quoth Matthew McLauchlin <matt_mcl@hotmail.com>:

"I shouted out, 'Free the Expo '67'":

I think this refers to, of all things, Quebec sovereignty. Expo 67 took place in Montreal; in that same year in Montreal, Charles de Gaulle, at that time president of France, made a speech from the balcony of Montreal City Hall, part of which was "Vive le Quebec libre" (long live free Quebec). This added fuel to the Quebec sovereignty movement for the next thirty years.

Giantisms:

• Many puns, as noted above.
• "Fat" and "big" are used in different senses right next to each other.