"Spiders & Snakes" redirects here. For the band by the same name, see Spiders & Snakes (band).
"Spiders & Snakes" is a 1974 hit song by Jim Stafford. 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 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[1] and two weeks at number three on the Cash Box Top 100.[2] In Canada, the song reached number one.[3] The song spent five and a half months on the U.S. charts, and became a Gold record.