The song discusses a girl known as "Poison Ivy". She is compared tomeasles,mumps,chickenpox, thecommon cold, andwhooping cough, but is deemed worse, because "Poison Ivy, Lord, will make you itch". According to lyricist Jerry Leiber, "Pure and simple, 'Poison Ivy' is a metaphor for a sexually transmitted disease".[3] The song also makes references to other flowers such as arose and adaisy.
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs – Australia number 1 in 1964. It famously kept the Beatles from the number 1 spot on the Sydney charts at the very moment that the group was making its first and only tour of Australia—a feat which resulted in Thorpe being invited to meet the Fab Four at their hotel.[4]
The Lambrettas – 1980. They reached number 7 in the British charts.
