Lyricist behind ‘Itsy Bitsy’ Bikini, dies at 92

Paul Vance, who described the uncertain path of a girl in a risque two-piece bathing suit as she advanced from a locker to the shore in the novelty hit song “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” died May 30 in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 92.

His daughter Paula confirmed the death, at a nursing facility.

It was Paula who, at 2 years old, inspired the song. On a family trip to the beach in 1960, she wore one of the itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, yellow polka-dot bikinis that her Aunt Lena had made for her and two of her cousins. But her shyness made her retreat, at first, because of the reaction of two boys who exclaimed that she was wearing no clothes.

When she reemerged, she wrapped herself in a blanket before venturing into the water. While in the water, the bottom of her bikini fell off. Heading home, the lyrics to “Itsy Bitsy” started coming to Vance. He called Lee Pockriss, his songwriting partner on a number of hits.

“I sang the lyric on the phone, and by the time he got to my office a couple of hours later, he had 90% of the tune written,” Vance was quoted as saying in the obituary for Pockriss in the Los Angeles Times in 2011.

The song was soon recorded by Brian Hyland, a 16-year-old heartthrob from New York City’s borough of Queens, and it spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including one week at No. 1. Before Hyland was introduced on “American Bandstand” — where a little girl would reenact Paula’s experience on a set with a bath house and mock waves — host Dick Clark called “Itsy Bitsy” the “hottest or coolest record in the country, the biggest thing around.”

“Itsy Bitsy” endured longer than its time on the charts, though. It has been covered dozens of times by artists as diverse as Connie Francis, Kermit and Miss Piggy, and Devo, and used in commercials for products such as Yoplait Light and Special K cereal.

Joseph Philip Florio was born Nov. 4, 1929, in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn to Philip and Concetta Florio. His father delivered ice in a horse-drawn wagon. His mother was a homemaker.

He began writing lyrics when he was 13 but had no clear path to being a composer. He described himself to The Palm Beach Post in 2015 as a “dese, dose and dem” guy who avoided falling in with the Mafia. Instead, he served in the Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, then opened a junkyard and auto salvage business. He was already in his mid-20s when he met Pockriss, a composer who had done graduate work with Aaron Copland.

“It’s an ideal professional combination,” Pockriss told The Associated Press in 1960, adding, “He understands the public. I understand the profession.”

Their 1957 song “Catch a Falling Star” was a hit for Perry Como in 1957 and the first record certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The success of “Catch a Falling Star” let Vance focus on songwriting and to change his name to sound less ethnic. With various collaborators, including Pockriss, he wrote songs originally recorded by Johnny Mathis, Paul Anka, Tommy James & the Shondells, and Patti Page.

Vance cajoled Clint Holmes into recording his and Pockriss’ song “Playground in My Mind” by following him into a men’s room to make his pitch, at a venue in the Bahamas, where Holmes was performing. Speaking to The Palm Beach Post, Holmes said of Vance, “His enthusiasm struck me more than the song.” The song, though, became Holmes’ only Top 10 hit.

While still writing songs, Vance owned and bred horses for harness racing.

In addition to Paula, Vance is survived by another daughter, Connie Vance Cohen; a son, Joseph; a sister, Joanne Florio, a singer; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife, Margaret (Curte) Vance, died in 2012. His son Philip died in 2009.

Vance was erroneously reported to have died in 2006 when the wife of a man named Paul Van Valkenburgh, who had died, asserted that her husband had written “Itsy Bitsy” under the name Paul Vance. The obituary, by The Associated Press, was picked up by many news outlets, including The New York Times. (Corrections ensued, and the Times published a corrective article.)