The Great Ganesha

So, it turns out that Paul Vance, the writer of the famous song Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, is not dead. Hm. That’s good to know. I didn’t know that he had died, but it’s good to know he’s been resurrected.

Nonetheless, there was another guy named Paul Van Valkenburgh, who really died. And he convinced his wife of forty years that he had written the song under the pseudonym Paul Vance. Says the Beeb:

The widow of Paul Van Valkenburgh, of Ormond Beach, Florida, said he claimed to have written the song as Paul Vance.

Rose Leroux said she had had no reason to doubt her late husband’s claim to fame and was “devastated”. [link]

Well, I’d be devastated too. He told her he’d sold the royalties away when he was young and foolish.

Mrs Leroux said her late husband, who was 68 when he died, had always told her he sold the royalties to the song in his late teens.

He was working as a salesman when they met almost 40 years ago, and later became a painting contractor, she said. [link]

I’ve heard of guys lying to impress their girlfriends, but this definitely takes the cake. One could even call it a “small cover-up.” Just like an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini…