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Walking the Dog Lyrics

Baby's back, dressd 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 a-walkin' her dog.
If you don't know how to do it,
I'll show you how the walk the dog.

Asked the 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 a-walkin' her dog.
If you don't know how to do it,
I'll show you how the walk the dog.
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Cover art for Walking the Dog lyrics by Rufus Thomas

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.

Cover art for Walking the Dog lyrics by Rufus Thomas

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.

Cover art for Walking the Dog lyrics by Rufus Thomas

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.

My Interpretation
 
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