"Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat" is a song written by

Bob Hilliard Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: "Alice in Wonderland", "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", " Dear Hearts and Gentle ...

and

Lee Pockriss Lee Julian Pockriss (January 20, 1924 – November 14, 2011) was an American songwriter who wrote many well-known popular songs and several scores for films and Broadway shows, mainly during the 1960s and 1970s. Early life and career Born in ...

. It was recorded by Paul Evans (US No. 9) in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

, and covered the same year by

The Avons The Avons were a British pop vocal group. Originally composed of Valerie Murtagh (born 1936, Willesden, London) and Elaine Murtagh, (born 1940, County Cork, Ireland) and known as 'The Avon Sisters', they added Raymond S. Adams (born 1938, Jersey, C ...

(UK No. 3). Ingrid Reuterskiöld (Ninita) wrote lyrics in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, as "Flickor bak i bilen", which was recorded by

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...

in 1959. Her version peaked at No. 4 in 1960, according to the bestselling list in the Swedish music paper, ''Show Business''. The song was parodied by

Country Yossi Yossi (Joseph) Toiv (born January 9, 1949), known professionally as Country Yossi, is an American Orthodox Jewish composer, singer, radio show host, author, and magazine publisher. A composer and singer in the Jewish music genre, Toiv has to his ...

as "Seven Little Kids".

Synopsis

The song is told from the perspective of the driver, who is singing about seven girls in the backseat with Fred (never mind the implausibility of any backseat in a motor vehicle holding eight adults). The driver invites one of the girls to join him in the front seat, then asks how they like his triple carburetor, then offers to leave as the girls prefer Fred's company to his. Each time, however, he is told to pay attention to his driving and that they prefer to remain in the backseat "kissing and hugging with Fred."

Charts

Avons version

Entered the UK charts at No. 26 on 19 November 1959, peaking at No. 3 on 7 January 1960. It charted in the UK Top 10 for 8 weeks and in the Top 20 for a total of 10 weeks.

Paul Evans version

References

1959 singles Siw Malmkvist songs 1959 songs Songs with lyrics by Bob Hilliard Songs written by Lee Pockriss Paul Evans (musician) songs {{1950s-single-stub