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. It was premiered by Louis Armstrong and has been covered by many other musicians. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1938 but lost to "Thanks for the Memory".
In 1930s Hollywood, black actors were not filmed singing to each other, so Armstrong sang it to a racehorse named Jeepers Creepers. The phrase "jeepers creepers", a euphemism for Jesus Christ, predates both the song and film. Mercer said that the title came from a Henry Fonda line in an earlier movie. The lyrics include:
Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those peepers?

Jeepers Creepers, where'd ya get those eyes?

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