The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor by Kitts Thomas M.;Baxter-Moore Nicolas;

Author:Kitts, Thomas M.;Baxter-Moore, Nicolas;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

“Poison Ivy”

Pure and simple, “Poison Ivy” is a metaphor for a sexually transmitted disease – or the clap – hardly a topic for a song that hit the Top Ten in the spring of 1959. But the more we wrote, the less we understood why the public bought what it bought. It didn’t make sense, but it didn’t matter. We were having fun.

(Leiber 141)

This quotation perhaps gives great insight into both the paradoxes of commercial songwriting and the spirited mindset of the Leiber and Stoller/Coasters collaboration. Yet the underlying theme of “Poison Ivy” is a serious one, metaphorically replete with caveats, symptoms, and after effects. While incidents of syphilis increased during World War II, Americans were fearful of the disease and its social stigma (see “Sexually Transmitted”).1 During the 1940s, there was a plethora of public health service, anti-STD posters with slogans such as “She may look clean but…,” “Crossing your fingers won’t prevent venereal disease,” and “VD can be cured but there’s no medicine for regret” (Peppers). Innocent Party, a 17-minute film available on YouTube, reveals the almost obsessive fear that played an active role in the mindset of American teenagers. With “Poison Ivy,” the Coasters seem to mock this obsession. With the exception of the reference to “calamine lotion”2 in the third verse, the Coasters sing of the after effects of syphilis, especially the scratching and itching. The sexual innuendos certainly point to an intimate involvement with lines about “creepin’ around late at night” and warnings not to “mess around.”

It is perhaps the rhythm-and-blues flavored vocal and instrumental arrangement coupled with a very accessible sing-along melody that undermines the seriousness of “Poison Ivy.” However, the record, which reached #1 on the R&B chart and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959, is a testimonial to the power of commercial songwriting and vocal performance, so much so that it obscures the STD issue in several ways. Consider the song’s conclusion as the Coasters sing La da la da la da, a series of logatomes3 with teasing inflections and an almost childlike reverie. In addition, Poison Ivy might be the name of a very seductive woman, who perhaps may have an STD, but this possible naming personalizes the lyrics and gives the male listener a sense of a one-to-one connection with the song and, in this context, Poison Ivy herself. Furthermore, the rhymes deliver an enjoyable comedic experience. Ingenuous with whimsy, they are clever and funny: “bumpy” and “lumpy,” “ocean” and “lotion,” “fool ya” and “cool ya.” Yet the Coasters and Leiber and Stoller belie any dangers or potential tragedies associated with syphilis. As Leiber said, “…we were having fun…” but perhaps only tragically so.

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