Cooties Lyrics – Hairspray

Song Overview

Cooties arrives on the 2007 Hairspray motion picture soundtrack as a punchy, contemporary-pop take on the stage number Amber Von Tussle hurls at Tracy during the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant. In the film itself the song is heard instrumentally in the pageant sequence and again over the end credits, while the album features a full vocal by Aimee Allen produced within Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s 1962-styled palette.

Review and Highlights

Allen’s studio version keeps the taunt brisk and candy-coated: fuzzed guitars, floor tom thumps, and a chant-ready hook that snaps like playground call-and-response. The lyric reads mean on paper, but the arrangement leans cartoonish on purpose, satirizing teen-queen cruelty with bubblegum swagger. On stage, “Cooties” is Amber’s big moment; on screen, the creative team slides it under the action as underscore, then gives the track its close-up on the album.

Creation History

Written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for the 2002 Broadway musical, “Cooties” was repurposed in the 2007 film as instrumental pageant music, with Aimee Allen cutting a new pop-forward version for the soundtrack. Production credits for the track list Lucian Piane (with Shaiman across the album), aligning with session documentation and discographic listings.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

In the stage show, Amber weaponizes a playground chant to humiliate Tracy on live TV. It’s less about hygiene than hierarchy - she’s policing who gets to be visible. The movie nods to that function by letting the groove run under the pageant choreography before the credits spin the full track.

Song Meaning

The piece lampoons teen conformity. By exaggerating schoolyard insults into a TV showstopper, it shows how petty cruelty scales when cameras are rolling. The cootie-joke era might be childish, but the power play is very adult: Amber equates popularity with purity and tries to write Tracy out of the frame.

Annotations

“Quick uh, can you get Rod Serling on the phone?”

Yes - Rod Serling, of The Twilight Zone. The line tags Tracy as “other” by invoking sci-fi weirdness, which is exactly Amber’s move.

Style & references

Early-60s girl-group DNA filtered through 2000s pop production: stacked gang vocals, hooky refrains, and a cheer-squad bridge built to rile the room. The “circle, circle, dot, dot” rhyme pulls a playground ritual into primetime, which is the joke and the critique.

Key Facts

• Artists: Aimee Allen; Motion Picture Cast of Hairspray credited on streaming editions
• Composer: Marc Shaiman
• Lyricist: Scott Wittman
• Producers (track): Lucian Piane; album produced by Marc Shaiman
• Album: Hairspray (Soundtrack to the Motion Picture) - released July 10, 2007 (New Line Records)
• YouTube official audio ID: Gl4V4BXpRjc
• Stage placement: Amber Von Tussle’s Act II taunt; retained verbatim in Hairspray Live! (2016)
• Film use: Instrumental during pageant; full vocal over end credits

Questions and Answers

Who wrote “Cooties”?

Music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman.

Who performs the soundtrack version?

Aimee Allen, in a studio recording cut for the 2007 film album.

Is “Cooties” actually sung in the 2007 movie?

No. The film uses it instrumentally in the pageant and again in the end credits; the full vocal appears on the album.

Who produced the track?

Lucian Piane is credited as producer of “Cooties” on the soundtrack; Marc Shaiman produced across the album.

Where can I hear an official version online?

WaterTower Music’s official YouTube upload and major streaming services carry the track.

Awards and Chart Positions

Soundtrack milestones: The 2007 album peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard 200, logged nine weeks in the top 10, and earned RIAA Platinum alongside a 2008 Grammy nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack. While “Cooties” wasn’t worked as a single, its placement helped the album’s end-credits glow.

How to Sing Cooties

Vibe: Cheer-captain taunt. Smile in the sound, consonants crisp, and sass on the end rhymes.

Range & blend: Pop mezzo lead with gang vocals. Keep the chant sections tight and slightly forward in placement.

Groove: Straight 2 with handclap lift; don’t rush the “circle, circle, dot, dot” figure - it hits harder when it sits back.

Acting beats: Clock the joke. You’re selling superficial “cleanliness” to gatekeep popularity - a satire of TV-friendly bullying.

Additional Info

The franchise keeps “Cooties” alive in multiple versions: Aimee Allen’s album cut, the instrumental underscoring in the 2007 film, and Dove Cameron’s on-camera performance in Hairspray Live! that restores Amber’s lead vocal to its stage function.