Songfacts®:

• "The Girl Can't Help It" is about a young woman so attractive that she unwittingly captures the attention of every guy she passes. In addition to her siren-like sex appeal, there's a distinctly incendiary element to her superpowers. She turns bread to toast with a wink of an eye and makes "beefsteak become well done" with a smile. She can't be held responsible for the potentially dangerous effects of her fiery presence. The poor girl just can't help it.
• "The Girl Can't Help It" is the title track of one of the most significant American musicals ever made. Released in 1956, the film stars bombshell Jayne Mansfield (the girl who couldn't help it), Julie London, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, and Henry Jones. The movie was originally conceived as a way to build Mansfield's celebrity, but it took on a life of its own and became a rallying point for young people, helping propel rock and roll into its unofficial "first Golden Age."
  
  This was also the film the heavily inspired young, pre-Beatle John Lennon to be a rocker. The impact was so significant that, 12 years later, the Beatles took a break from recording "Birthday" to watch the film premiere on British television (Lennon had seen it in theaters).
• Bobby Troup wrote the song. He also penned "Route 66."
• In addition to hitting #49 on the Billboard Top 100, the song reached #7 on the R&B Chart and #9 on the UK Singles Chart.
• Fergie sampled the song on "Clumsy" in 2007.
• Fats Domino was originally supposed to record the song, but the sessions fell through.
• In 1964, the Animals covered "The Girl Can't Help It" on their self-titled debut album. The US and UK versions of the album differed, but this was one of the songs that appeared on both.
  
  The Everly Brothers covered the song on their 1965 album Beat & Soul.
  
  Mick Ronson has a version of the song on his second studio album, Play Don't Worry.
  
  On their 2003 compilation album, Fair Is Foul And Foul Is Fair, Babes in Toyland included a demo of "The Girl Can't Help It." It sounds very angry.
  
  Bonnie Raitt covered the song on her seventh studio album, The Glow. Her version is titled "The Boy Can't Help It" and features an irresistible boy rather than a girl.
  
  
  From the late 1980s to early '90s, British candy company Rowntree's used the song in commercials for their Fruit Pastilles, with the slogan "you just can't help chewing."
• On their 1971 album Tarkus, Emerson, Lake & Palmer wrote completely different lyrics to go with the music of "The Girl Can't Help It." The result, titled "Are You Ready Eddy?," asks the all-important question of whether or not Eddy is ready to rock and roll. We never do get the answer.