"Pepe" is a 1960 song written by Hans Wittstatt and

Dory Previn Dorothy "Dory" Veronica Previn ( Langan; October 22, 1925 – February 14, 2012) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Previn was a lyricist on songs intended for motion pictures and, with her t ...

for the musical comedy film ''

Pepe Pepe is a pet form of the Spanish name José (Josep). It is also a surname. * People Mononyms * Pepe (footballer, born 1935), real name José Macia, Brazilian footballer *Pepe (footballer, born 1983), real name Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira ...

'', featuring Mario Moreno ("Cantinflas") in the lead role. It was first recorded by

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as '' Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel'' (1956), and ''The M ...

for the movie.

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including " Rebel ...

covered the song the same year. There have also been several other cover versions of this song.

Shirley Jones version

The song was originally performed in the movie by

. It was released as a single in 1960 on

Colpix Records Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement ov ...

CP 15013. Jones' recording reached No. 4 in Spain.

Duane Eddy version

covered the song in 1960 on

Jamie Records Jamie Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1956 by Harold Lipsius (1913–2007) and Allan Sussel (1924–2003). Their first 45rpm single, "It's Great to Fall in Love"/"Truly" by Marian Caruso, was issued in 1956. Th ...

1175. His version charted at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. However, it was a much bigger hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at Number 2 in January 1961.

Charts

Other versions

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...

covered it in French as "Pépé". It appeared on her 1961 album " Garde-moi la dernière danse" and one single from same year. It reached number 3 on the German chart, and number 10 on the Dutch chart. *

Jorgen Ingmann Jorgen may refer to: *Jørgen, a Scandinavian masculine given name *Jörgen Jörgen is a village in the municipality of Tieschen in the '' Bezirk'' of Südoststeiermark in the Federal State of Styria in Austria. Its population was 159 in 201 ...

took a cover to number 6 in 1961 on the

Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista is a Norwegian record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide chart ...

. *In the UK, pianist

Russ Conway Russ Conway, DSM (born Trevor Herbert Stanford; 2 September 1925 – 16 November 2000) was an English popular music pianist and composer. Conway had 20 piano instrumentals in the UK Singles Chart between 1957 and 1963, including two number on ...

took his cover version to number 19 in the British charts during January 1961.Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 333. . * Bert Weedon covered it in his 1976 compilation album '' 22 Golden Guitar Greats'', which made him the first solo guitar player to top the

UK Album Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

References

{{Duane Eddy 1960 songs Shirley Jones songs 1960s instrumentals Duane Eddy songs Songs with lyrics by Dory Previn