He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Papa I know
There's a frog on my toe
Maybe I'll call him Jethro
Maybe I'll grow up to be wise, as good as he
And maybe I'll come back after you're long gone
Papa I'm sure
The worms have eaten you now
And Jethro's been on some Frenchy's plate long ago
Now I'm pretty sure that I listen to every word
Cause I still hear you telling me still
Slap them boys when they're naughty
Make them crawl, make you haughty
Make you strong, little girl
You paint them toes the reddest color
And you know one day
You're gonna be bigger than a flea
You're gonna be bigger than that old poison ivy tree
Now I'm pretty sure
That I think you'd come and visit
And talk sometimes kinda like Gidget
A funny little chance like an Indian Brave
You said, "we all grew fat when the white man came"
But one day, girl, you're gonna learn to make 'em crawl
Make 'em grow tall
But have the grace
To be a lady with disgrace
And you fry them taters
And you make them with lady's hands
And know you're my pappy's baby
There's a frog on my toe
Maybe I'll call him Jethro
Maybe I'll grow up to be wise, as good as he
And maybe I'll come back after you're long gone
Papa I'm sure
The worms have eaten you now
And Jethro's been on some Frenchy's plate long ago
Now I'm pretty sure that I listen to every word
Cause I still hear you telling me still
Slap them boys when they're naughty
Make them crawl, make you haughty
Make you strong, little girl
You paint them toes the reddest color
And you know one day
You're gonna be bigger than a flea
You're gonna be bigger than that old poison ivy tree
Now I'm pretty sure
That I think you'd come and visit
And talk sometimes kinda like Gidget
A funny little chance like an Indian Brave
You said, "we all grew fat when the white man came"
But one day, girl, you're gonna learn to make 'em crawl
Make 'em grow tall
But have the grace
To be a lady with disgrace
And you fry them taters
And you make them with lady's hands
And know you're my pappy's baby
Lyrics submitted by merchantpierce
Frog on My Toe Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I always thought the lines of the chorus were:
Slap them boys when they're naughty Make them crawl, make you HARDY.
Hardy makes a lot more sense than 'haughty,' even though 'haughty' is a perfect rhyme. Most songs aren't written with perfect rhymes and are actually deliberately written to not have perfect rhymes because they're usually cliched and predictable.
Plus, Tori has a thick southern accent when she's singing. It definitely sounds like 'hardy' to me as in both strong in character and ultimately a strong, sexual woman when she's older, because it's in reference to the naughty boys.