Words & Music:
Sid Tepper
Roy C. Bennett
I've gotta gal, oh what a pal
The apple of my eye
With something rare, a peach of a pear
But her dad won't let us meet and I could die
I love Petunia the gardener's daughter
Oooh how that gal can kiss
Her eyes are blue as bluebells
Each cheek a rose to see
How I dance when she plants her two lips on me
I'm as daffy as a daffodil
I long to kiss her all the time
Tonight I'll steal into her garden
And make Petunia's two lips mine
(I've got a beau, I love him so
The apple of my eye
With something rare, a peach of a pear
But my dad won't let us meet and I could die)
And we could die
I love Petunia the gardener's daughter
Oooh how that gal can kiss
(My eyes are blue as bluebells
Each cheek a rose to see)
How I dance when she plants her two lips on me
(He's as daffy as a daffodil
He loves to kiss me all the time)
Tonight I'll steal into her garden
And make Petunia's two lips mine
She makes other girls look just like weeds
(I'm gonna be his clinging vine)
Tonight I'll steal into her garden
And make Petunia's two lips
(My ever loving two lips)
Make Petunia's two lips mine
Recordingdate: 1965/05/14, first released on: Frankie and Johnny (album)
Musicians
Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Petunia the Gardener's Daughter:
(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(drums)
(piano)
(harmonica)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(trombone)
(trumpet)
(tuba)
(tuba)
Availability
Find available albums with Petunia the Gardener's Daughter.
Oh my, one of the bottom feeders. It doesn't get too much worse than this, but there are certainly others that share its company. Zero stars just fir the title.
He should have sang 'I Hate Petunia, the Gardners Daughter' instead. One of the worst movies songs ever.
It's an awful song, rather embarrassing for a fan. It reveals how Elvis was living as an alien, in the music field, back in 1965....
"Tonight I'll steal into her garden - And make Petunia's two lips mine" .... naughty, naughty mr. Presley. Well, you never go wrong with the handycraft of Tepper and Bennett .... luckily for them Elvis could sing page 44 of the yellow pages of the Idaho telephone book and yet having fans standing in line to buy it!
As a ten year old I quite liked this ditty but as a near forty something, my opinion is now a little more realistic! Sorry to add that this is sub-standard movie fare.
I think you're all missing the point. This style of song is what in England we would call "Music Hall" and, in the USA, "Vaudeville", I believe.
The time period of Frankie & Johnny would be the late 1800's (I guess) and the song is entirely suitable in the film, with a pretty melody and cute lyrics. It gave Elvis a chance to do a different type of music and in duet. For me, Elvis's versatility was one of the keys to his enduring appeal.
The movies have given us a wide range of music, often light-hearted in style and necessarily lightweight. Enjoy the variety, for heaven's sake !
Hi Steve. You got some really good points there. Elvis' versatility just doesn't work for me when going in this direction (vaudeville). It's hard to connect to these kind of songs, when you love the man for singing songs like Trouble, King Creole, Stuck on you, Power of my love, Suspicious Minds, Burning Love, How Great Thou Art and Always on my mind. That's enough variety for me to enjoy - but I see your point!
There are good film songs and bad ones regardless of the scene they happen to be part of. This one is bloody awful.
This song is a "situational movie" song, nothing more, nothing less. In the movie, the song and the scene are cute, harmless and fun. As a stand alone song 43 years later (and even in 1966), it is just a piece of fluff with Elvis trying his best to make something out of very little. The sad part is not that Elvis recorded it, but rather this was the norm, rather than a rarity in 1965-66. The LP "Blue Hawaii" had a few silly songs, but a few great ones as well. That same year (1961) we were also treated to classic singles and the great LP "Something For Everybody". In 65-66, after a the reasonable "Girl Happy" LP, we had an LP of leftovers ("Elvis For Everyone"), "Harum Scarum", "Frankie and Johnny" (better then HS or PHS) and "Paradise, Hawaiian Style". Elvis went from AP entertainer of the year for 1964 to an after thought in 1966.
The song has no substance. It stinks worse than rotten fish.
I don't really like this recording, the album, or the film. Loads of other songs I perfer to listen to, other CD/Lps I prefer and better films (by Elvis) to watch. KC, JR, WITC, FTD, KG.
Please forgive me everyone...but when I'm in the mood for movie songs I never skip this one ! :p
Never play te song, soundtrack or watch the film. A low point in Elvis' career.
Imagine an FTD dedicated to the songs of Tepper/Bennett! That would be an endurance. Eek! By and large they wrote the movie songs I have the biggest problem with. As a stand alone song this one stinks but in the context of te musical genre it culd be a lot worse. The problem is why the hell was Elvis singing music hall in the first place. Sure, there was a movie to shoot but Elvis was a singer first and a movie star second. His songs should have been written to fit him not the movies.
One of the worst songs from his movie years. Not so bad as some others maybe ('Yoga Is As Yoga Does', 'Barefoot Ballad' etc) but still a low point in his career. All the soundtracks recorded in 1965 ('Paradise Hawaiian Style', 'Harum Scarum' & 'Frankie And Johnny') are among his worst. Thankfully things started picking up from 1966 onwards.
Its hard to defend this song, other than to say its "movie music fluff" and better songs came before and after.
Like "Look Out Broadway" and the long movie version of "Frankie and Johnny", this is another vaudeville dance hall kinda song. Actually, "Signs of the Zodiac" is another in this category. There are grounds to defend these songs. They fit the movie, they were meant to be of a different style---corny on purpose, I suppose. Both "Frankie and Johnny" and the "Trouble With Girls" we're set in the past, not in the modern day 1960's. These are all decent excuses. Nevertheless, I personally hate this song intensely. I think it is an embarrassment. The movie is an even worse embarrassment. Though I do like a few tracks Fromm the soundtrack (Beginner's Luck.... Please Don't Stop Loving Me)
I can enjoy this crap, oops, I mean track. The rotten stereo-recording bothers me more than the song itself. Still, there are plenty off folk songs from 18something that could have been used in the movie like the title song.
Funny thing is that this song has never been included and never will on any of my personal film playlists but I am listening to it now and kinda enjoying it in a perverse way. Its not good I know but it does convey oomph and a certain good feel factor. - 2 1/2 stars.
I'll normally skip this song. Not my favourite...
Elvis does a great job on this one. Him and Donna Douglas make a cute pair in the movie to.
This is by far one of Elvis' very worst movie songs, but I never skip it while I'm listening to the "Frankie & Johnny" soundtrack album. It's such a mediocre and silly song, but I don't find this possible Elvis duet with Eileen Wilson to be boring. According to the booklet that comes inside of the FTD "Frankie & Johnny" CD, Eileen Wilson might be the lady that sang with Elvis on "Petunia, The Gardener's Daughter" and "Look Out, Broadway". I very highly doubt that Donna Douglas did any of her own singing for those two songs.
Skip button in overdrive., mind you, there are worse.
It fits the movie. I would have preferred to see Elvis in a Gilbert & Sullivan movie adaptation.
The song fits the film perfectly. As a music hall type song it's great. The question is, should Elvis have done this film in the first place? Of course not, then we wouldn't have to listen to this drivel! Same year a Crying in the Chapel, no comparison.
It's not a classic, but it is a real old time Musical number. It fits the scene well, and I enjoy it within the context of the film. I haven't watched the movie in awhile, but I do spin the soundtrack every so often. Song 3 stars, LP: 3 and a half.
As a song on an album its not good. It does however work in the movie as a cute Broadway type number. I wonder how Elvis would have done on Broadway for real.
Lucky to get even 2 stars,
It's a fine and fun song and I see nothing wrong its content and performance. Many are such weak fools to only appreciate the music that suits their peer group or the current trend. This one and the movie itself proved E was also good at the Broadwayish musical style - 5 stars.
Good in Frankie & Johnny, the film, but comes across somewhat as an ersatzy listen on Frankie & Johnny, the album. Three stars at best.