Spiders & Snakes (song)

"Spiders & Snakes"
Single by Jim Stafford
from the album Jim Stafford
B-side "Undecided"
Released November 1973
Format 7"
Recorded 1973
Genre Country, pop, swamp rock[1]
Length 3:07
Label MGM Records
Songwriter(s) Jim Stafford, David Bellamy
Producer(s) Phil Gernhard and Lobo
Jim Stafford singles chronology
"Swamp Witch"
(1973)		 "Spiders & Snakes"
(1973)		 "My Girl Bill"
(1974)

"Swamp Witch"
(1973)		 "Spiders & Snakes"
(1973)		 "My Girl Bill"
(1974)

"Spiders & Snakes" is a 1974 hit song recorded by Jim Stafford and written by Stafford and David Bellamy. It was the second of four U.S. Top 40 singles released from his eponymous debut album and also the highest-charting. The lyrics in the verses are spoken, rather than sung.

The song is about a boy who, although he is shy, has a girl who likes him named Mary Lou. He makes faltering attempts to respond to her when they are alone, which finally include trying to give her a frog. She promptly protests and summarily rebuffs him. Still in school, they later develop a more mature relationship with the boy as the initiator instead of Mary Lou, but when they are once again alone she nonetheless feels the need to remind him, still nervous, that she does "not" like spiders and snakes, or any other such similar creatures, and that it takes something else to satisfy her loving desires.

"Spiders and Snakes" was one of the top hits of 1974, spending one week at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100.[2] In Canada, the song reached number one.[3] The song spent five and a half months on the US charts, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on March 8, 1974.[4]

Chart performance

References

  1. ↑ https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-swamp-rock-2522008/
  2. 1 2 "Music: Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.com. 1974-03-02. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  3. 1 2 "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  4. ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 336. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  5. 1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  6. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  7. ↑ http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qartistid=1448#n_view_location
  8. ↑ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  9. ↑ Billboard Adult Contemporary, February 23, 1974
  10. ↑ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, March 9, 1974
  11. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-05-28. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  12. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2015-05-28.
  13. ↑ Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1974
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