Baby's back, dressed in black
Silver buttons all down her back
High, low, tipsy toe
She broke a needle and she can't sew
Walkin' the dog
Just walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk te dog
Asked a fellow for fifteen cents
See the fellow he jumped the fence
Jumped so high he touched the sky
Never got back till the fourth of July
Walkin' the dog
Just walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Tell me, how does your garden grow?
You got silver bells and you got cockleshells
Pretty maids all in a row
Walking the dog
Just a walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
Show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Oh oh, just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a walkin'
Oh yeah, if you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog, oh
Just a, just a, just a, just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a, just a, just a, just a walkin', oh
Silver buttons all down her back
High, low, tipsy toe
She broke a needle and she can't sew
Walkin' the dog
Just walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk te dog
Asked a fellow for fifteen cents
See the fellow he jumped the fence
Jumped so high he touched the sky
Never got back till the fourth of July
Walkin' the dog
Just walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Tell me, how does your garden grow?
You got silver bells and you got cockleshells
Pretty maids all in a row
Walking the dog
Just a walkin' the dog
If you don't know how to do it
Show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Oh oh, just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a walkin'
Oh yeah, if you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog, oh
Just a, just a, just a, just a, just a, just a walkin'
Just a, just a, just a, just a, just a, just a walkin', oh
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Heroin use, no question. That the Mouseketeers recorded it (because of it's use of nursery lyrics) was surreal.
Aerosmith's pirated recordings of this were brilliant.
The original Stax recording, instead of "Mary Mary quite contrary ...", Rufus starts out the verse, "Tell me Mary, what's your twelve? ... Tell me, how does your garden grow? ..."
Now, what does the question, "what's your twelve?" mean?
I've heard "watch your six" means "watch your back" as 6 o'clock is behind you assuming you're facing 12 o'clock. Is Rufus essentially asking "where are you going?"
I've searched for the expression, and it seems to only appear in the lyrics to this song.
I suspect that the song is an expression of MALE RESENTMENT that women are painted as desirable to the unsuspecting male population, but then they turn out to be dogs in reality.