The song discusses a girl known as "Poison Ivy". She is compared to measles, mumps, chickenpox, the common cold, and whooping 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 a rose and a daisy.
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs – Australia #1/1964. It famously kept The Beatles from the #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.[5]
The Hollies - in 1963, on their first Australian LP.
Meshell Ndegeocello – 1997, with slightly altered lyrics. Her cover was included on the Batman & Robin soundtrack, in which the villainess Poison Ivy is a main character. A greatly altered instrumental cover of the song by Jai Winding is heard in the film, but not on the soundtrack.
Los Rebeldes del Rock – a Mexican band formed in 1957 by African-Mexican singer Johnny Laboriel. Version in Spanish, "La Hiedra Venenosa", released on EP (Orfeon, 1964).
Golden Boys – in Portuguese, as "Erva Venenosa", in 1965, with the version's lyrics portraying an evil woman.[1] Covered by Brazilian pop band Herva Doce in 1982, and Rita Lee on her album 3001 in 2000.
Los Flippers, a Colombian rock and roll band of the 1960s, recorded a version in Spanish called "El Melenudo".
