What is the origin of the phrase: "the whole Mary Ann"?

I've never heard it. there was, however, a great song in the 60's "Mary Ann". actually, I'm not sure if that was the title or not, but it was the main focus of the chorus... might have to go a googling...

Perhaps it is regional. . .I've heard it used around here (Pacific NW) in lieu of "the whole nine yards."

Here we go a-googling!

eta, I think that was C'mon Mary Ann by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (great party music!)

I've hear "the whole shebang" and "the whole nine yards" (search, people, we've got at least two long threads on this one ), but never the "whole Mary Ann."

Wrong song, right name:

"All day, all night, Mary Ann.
Down by the seaside, slipping sand.
Even little children love Mary Ann.
Down by the seaside, slipping sand."

And I wouldn't be surprised to hear I've got a mondegreen or two mossing up that sand...

THAT'S the one I remember!! thanks.

now I'll probably have it stuck in my head all night...

C'MON MARIANNE

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons


Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne

Whoa-ho-ho here I am on my knees again
I'll do anything just to make it right
Say you'll understand, oh I know you can
C'mon Marianne


No matter what people say, it didn't happen that way
She was a passing fling and not a permanent thing
Say you'll understand, oh I know you can

C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
Say you can understand
My Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne

Well now your big brown eyes are all full of tears
From the bitterness of my cheatin' years
So I hang my head, wish that I was dead
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
Say you can understand
My Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)
C'mon Marianne (baby)

Marianne, Marianne, Marianne, Marianne

© 1967 by Frankie Valli

slipping frapping sand??

girl, that sure is some monkeygrin!

(with a calypso beat)
All day, all night, Mary Ann,
Down by the seaside sifting sand,
All the little children love Mary Ann,
Down by the seaside sifting sand

Ha! Thanks, tsuwm! I had a sneaking suspicion my childhood impression of the song was probably incorrect. I've never researched the song, never read the lyrics, so I was writing on a wing and a prayer and figured I'd be corrected. But it's humorous to think how I've imagined the picture in the song all these many years: Mary Ann at the seaside with the sand slipping away as the waves hit it. Yep, that's a monkeygrin fersure!

It has to do with marriage vows, particular the one of fidelity.

"Monkeygrin"? Derived from: ape-sh**t + s**t-eating grin = monkeygrin? Or just grinning like an ape?

<sigh> mondegreen... monkeygrin
-ron o.

Ok, but...but...don't I get any points for creativity?

While I like the correct one, I definitely like your creative one better, Jackie!

I thought tsuwm's was pretty creative in the first place! Especially since that monkeygrin was a first cousin of the mondegreen...

However, I don't know whether tsuwm created 'monkeygrin.'

at a minimum, I arrived at monkeygrin independently. but here's the monkeywrench: it comes up with three (completely unrelated) hits on the google-ometer--and two of those relate to ihateclowns.com!!

Wee-ooo-EE-oo! Are Google eyes upon us? [looking over shoulder]

don't I get any points for creativity?

Possibly - but you certainly get points for a dive into (or possibly 'an ascent to'?) metalinguistics, Jackie!
"Monkey-green" is a self-referential mondegreen!

I'm feeling a definite chopped-liver moment here: exactly which creativity are you guys debating?
-joe paté

Put away the crackers: we were debating my "creativity", which was entirely a red herring that I hoped would distract people from the fact that I overlooked the obvious!

I heard someone say it again today!!

He said, "If this had been handled properly, we could have been done with this whole Mary Ann by now."

See? I'm not making this up!