She lived on a curve in the road, in an old tar-paper shack
On the south side of the town, on the wrong side of the tracks
Sometimes on the way into town we'd say:
"Mama, can we stop and give her a ride?"
Sometimes we did but her hands flew from her side
Wild eyed, crazy Mary
Down along the road, past the Parson's place
The old blue car we used to race
Little country store with a sign tacked to the side
Said "No L-O-I-T-E-are-I-N-G allowed"
Underneath that sign always congregated quite a crowd
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
One night thunder cracked mercy backed outside her windowsill
Dreamed I was flying high above the trees, over the hills
Looked down into the house of Mary
Bare bulb on, newspaper-covered walls, and Mary rising up above it all
Next morning on the way into town
Saw some skid marks, and followed them around
Over the curve, through the fields, into the house of Mary
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
On the south side of the town, on the wrong side of the tracks
Sometimes on the way into town we'd say:
"Mama, can we stop and give her a ride?"
Sometimes we did but her hands flew from her side
Wild eyed, crazy Mary
Down along the road, past the Parson's place
The old blue car we used to race
Little country store with a sign tacked to the side
Said "No L-O-I-T-E-are-I-N-G allowed"
Underneath that sign always congregated quite a crowd
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
One night thunder cracked mercy backed outside her windowsill
Dreamed I was flying high above the trees, over the hills
Looked down into the house of Mary
Bare bulb on, newspaper-covered walls, and Mary rising up above it all
Next morning on the way into town
Saw some skid marks, and followed them around
Over the curve, through the fields, into the house of Mary
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Lyrics submitted by planetearth
Crazy Mary Lyrics as written by Victoria Ann Williams
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
Victoria Williams did, in fact, perform this song, and even recorded a music video for it (you can find it at YouTube). Pearl Jam covered this song originally in a tribute album to Victoria Williams after it was discovered that she had MS, being one of many high profile acts to cover her songs for the album. Victoria was capable of performing in the 90's when this song was written, and she still can and does perform to this day.
It's the heartbreaking story of how people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities are misunderstood, and then feared, and then vilified, just as Boo Radley was in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
I think "That what you fear the most could meet you halfway" refers to the drunken mob giving into their own inner demons. They saw "Crazy Mary" as different, strange, to be reviled, to be feared. As they "passed the bottle around," they bought into a group-think mentality that "something must be done about her." or "let's go to Mary's house and raise Hell." And she didn't survive their assault on her.
It's a song about the tragedy of human cruelty toward people who are seen as different.