Songwriter Paul Vance will remain immortal

The writer of the immortal 'Itsy Bitsy' gave hundreds of hits, including several novelty songs

There are some songs that have an enduring quality to remain evergreen. One such song is ‘Itsy bitsy, teenie weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini’.

A simple, innocent and catchy song, it continues to remain popular even six decades after it first came out.

While the song remains a favourite with many Western music lovers who even idolise the singer Brian Hyland, few are aware about the lyricist Paul Vance, who passed away on May 30 at the age of 92.

Vance’s daughter Paula confirmed the news of her father’s demise on Facebook, saying he died while they listened to ‘Playground in My Mind’, a song of his that features vocals from his son Philip. “It’s as if he wrote the way he would take his last breath on earth,” she said in her Facebook post.

American Paul Vance co-wrote ‘Itsy bitsy…..’ with Lee Pockriss which was released in June 1960 and went on to hit the number one spot on Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks. It is a song about a shy girl wearing a polka dot bikini for the first time at the beach and embarrassed to be seen in public.

A novelty song, ‘Itsy bitsy’ was considered a bubblegum pop song, a term used to describe pop music that is catchy, upbeat and disposable, contrived or marketed for children and adolescents.

Vance, who began writing lyrics in his early teens, wrote over 300 songs that included top hits such as ‘Catch a Falling Star’, ‘Run Joey Run’, ‘Tracy’ and ‘The Chick’ , a novelty song.

Vance’s ‘Catch a Falling Star’ was Perry Como’s signature song that sold over a million copies and won him a Grammy award in 1959. Some of the other tracks Vance wrote were sung by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Paul Anka, Robert Goulet, Johnny Mathis and others.

Vance has an India connection. He wrote the English lyrics of the song ‘Calcutta’ a paean to the ladies of this Indian city who are “sweeter by far”, sweeter than the dames from Naples and Paris. ‘Itsy bitsy’ was also used in Aparna Sen’s film ’36 Chowringhee Lane’ as well as in some English films and commercials.

In the 1980s, Vance pursued a career in harness racing. His memoir is titled ‘Catch a Falling Star’.