The Pompatus of Love

Riding home today I heard this famous phrase in a song... oh you know what it is! And thought... what the heck does it mean? And why haven't I asked before now? Instead of pouring through Steve Miller Band web sites, I went to an authority.... THE STRAIGHT DOPE, and got my answer below:

From Rockin' Radio News:
Vernon Green, leader of the Medallions, died Dec. 24th [2000] in a hospital in Los Angeles. Best known for "The Letter" and "Buick 59," they were the first doo-wop group to record for Dootone Records. Their first release, "Buick 69," backed with a ballad called "The Letter," was a double-sided West Coast hit. Green's famous recitation on "The Letter" contained the nonsense lyric, "the pulpitudes of love," which was later picked up by Steve Miller as "the pompitudes of love"—which became the title of a 1990s film.

I also found this drawing from a site called Salticidae: Diagnostic Drawings Library. There is a credit to Jerzy Proszynski, 2004.






But I doubt Steve Miller knows anything about jumping spiders of the genus Phidippus Pompatus.