Jeepers Creepers (song)

"Jeepers Creepers" is a popular song and jazz standard. The music was written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer for the 1938 movie Going Places.[1] It was premiered by Louis Armstrong and has been covered by many other musicians.[2] The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1938 but lost to "Thanks for the Memory".[3]

In 1930s Hollywood, black actors were not filmed singing to each other, so Armstrong sang it to a racehorse named Jeepers Creepers.[1] The phrase "jeepers creepers", a euphemism for Jesus Christ, predates both the song and film.[1] Mercer said that the title came from a Henry Fonda line in an earlier movie.[2] The lyrics include:

Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?[2]

There were three popular versions of the song released in 1939, by Al Donahue, Louis Armstrong, and Larry Clinton.[4] It served as a contrafact for the Tadd Dameron composition "Flossie Lou".[5]

References
  1. Furia, Philip; Patterson, Laurie (2010). The Songs of Hollywood. Oxford University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-19-533708-2.
  2. "Music USA #7881-A, Interview with Johnny Mercer". 28 July 1976.
  3. "The 11th Academy Awards: 1939". oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin: Record Research. p. 533. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  5. Combs, Paul (2012). Dameronia: The Life and Music of Tadd Dameron. The University of Michigan Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-472-02881-8.
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