Sweet Mary

it was the year of our father 1900 and 76 in JA
when i first met my mary quite contrary to what my mother did say
she was a mountain girl come to spanish town
i was only there for a while
but when i think back on all the love we shared
i just cant quite help to smile
we spent one whole long year together
and at the end i had to go
by my mary's side i wept and cried i'd never been layed so low
she said, boy when you first met me
you were as green as a mango tree ooohh
but now you are a man go back to your land
but first listen carefully,
and you can smoke two pounds of cali herb by yourself
then try to stand on your head
no matter how high you get
you'll never forget the wonders of mary's bed

now my mary's sweet smell was in my nose
and vision it robbed me blind
and as i crossed the sea it occured to me
that i'd left myself behind
she was my natural mystic sweet sugar plum
i still ask why did i go
they say your first love's your hardest love
and i'd have to say that's so
and it's a day and another day and a way and another way
had a family once but they're gone
and it dont strike me as weird theres gray in my beard
but the words still linger on

and you can smoke two pounds of cali herb by yourself
then try to stand on your head
no matter how high you get
you'll never forget the wonders of mary's bed

now there's nothing for me left here 'cept some broken dreams
disappointments, i've had a few
and there's this place i know where the mangos grow
and there's just one thing left to do
i'll go back to my mary's bed, plant a kiss on her head
and pretend that time just stood still
and i can live out my life like it should have been
and the rest will be what it will
so i went back to the bar where we first met
i said, bartender where could she be
and as he poured me a beer he said, last year
she left this world peacefully
and every man in the bar looked at me
and they said, old man don't you see
that we were all touched by mary just like you
now she lives on in our memories

and we all can smoke two pounds of cali herb by ourselves
then try to stand on our heads
no matter how high we get
we'll never forget the wonders of mary's bed

and we can run 200 miles through a ganja field
until all we see is red and we can shout it out
we're still thinking about the wonders of mary's bed

and so we sing jump around sweet mary
you know we all have to move along
you never know what you've got in this cruel world
until you realize its gone