Somehow I completely missed the original of this, perhaps the sometime regional differences in radio playlists, still barely extent in 1968, meant Boston (where I was at the time) was not one of its hot spots. I came to know the song backing a night club vocalist in the mid-70s who sang the lyrics slightly differently:

Your red scarf matches your eyes
Please close cover before striking
My father had the shipfitter’s blues, and
Loving you is driving me bananas

in which form it has obviously stuck. I always figured it for a Spike Jones type thing, we played it more as a swing.