Johnny And Mary Lyrics
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Knows he tires easily
If it could buy truth from him
Mary says he changes his mind more than a woman
But she made her bed
Even when the chance was slim
When he decides hes a fool
Johnny says hell live anywhere
When he earns time to
Mary combs her hair
Says she should be used to it
Mary always hedges her bets
She never knows what to think
She says that he still acts
Like he is being discovered
Scared that hell be caught
Without a second thought
Running around
Trying to talk sense to her
Mary says hes lacking a real
Sense of proportion
So she combs her hair
Knows he tires easily
Trying to find certainty
He needs all the world to confirm
That he ain't lonely
Mary counts the walls
Says she should be used to it
Running around
Actually, Robert Palmer himself said that he wrote it about a specific sector of political people he knew personally, political people in the Bahamas, I believe. This song was about the shallowness & neediness of the policians themselves (all male, in this case) & the wives of those said men. Wives who were tired of the political game-playing, the jockeying for attention, the endless social obligations. But those same wives were not about to leave the life of privilege given to them, essentially making them into powerless shadows behind their men. Hence, the ennui, the boredom, the self-esteem issues written into the lines. How many politicians do we see "always running around, acting like he's being discovered"? Brillant but subtle writing, this one. So it's still about marriage to an extent, but there's a deeper meaning behind this song than that.
Not surprised it wasn't a hit in America, as they weren't & still in general aren't able to appreciate a darker song like this on the whole. And yes, I'm an American, and no, I don't hate my country. From what I've read, this song is still the most-respected in RP's catalogue in Britain to this day.
Excellent comment, Elawton. These are the kind of entries we want here on Songmeanings. By far the website I respect the most.
Excellent comment, Elawton. These are the kind of entries we want here on Songmeanings. By far the website I respect the most.
@elawton A truly exceptional description of the meaning of this song. To understand the meaning of any song, you need to delve into who the songwriter is and what he/she was experiencing at the time s/he wrote the song. That's just what you did here, by understanding how Robert's strong connection to the Bahamas (lived there for almost a decade), was the primary influence on the meaning of this song. I know the Caribbean fairly well myself and after reading your description, this song instantly went from being rather obscure to a crystal clear picture of what's going on in...
@elawton A truly exceptional description of the meaning of this song. To understand the meaning of any song, you need to delve into who the songwriter is and what he/she was experiencing at the time s/he wrote the song. That's just what you did here, by understanding how Robert's strong connection to the Bahamas (lived there for almost a decade), was the primary influence on the meaning of this song. I know the Caribbean fairly well myself and after reading your description, this song instantly went from being rather obscure to a crystal clear picture of what's going on in every line of the song.
I also agree that this song was very underappreciated in the States. I'm an American too, at least by birth. But I've always thought of myself as a global citizen. So like you, I can be an American and still see the world through a less biased "lens" than the stereotypical "ugly American". Even your level of English is far above American norms. Few Americans, at least the ones who tend to connect virtually like this, would use or even know what "ennui" means, much less know how to spell it LOL. So you struck a chord with me there too! :))
Typically, I'm not overflowing with (unwarranted) praise in my comments and reviews. So you earned this big thumbs up from me. IMO You should be a pro (or at least a regular) reviewer. Are you a regular blogger or reviewer anywhere? I like the way you think and write and would enjoy following your writings, wherever they appear. Tank yuh!
I understand this song was written about political behaviour. Nonetheless, as it happens with many songs with open metaphores and general meanings, it can be easily translated into any meaning. And since we're most of all sexual beings, of course that love is one of the most popular subjects for this song to be read into. besides, political ground is a fight ground, just as love is. I think that's why River Wolf and Dogmanstar interpreted it as a song about a relationship falling apart.
In that context, I take this song as a description of a very insecure man who thinks the woman he loves will leave him, that everybody cheats, that love will always end early, that love is always a fight, that love (as Joy Division said) will tear them apart, that he can trust nothing. He just have found a woman who is not willing to get into those games. She's not dumb nor simple. She's wise and she knows relationships are hard-working enterprises, but she has no intention to get into those mindgames, she knows nothing about those painstaking questions to oneself and doesn't care about them. But she likes him all the same, that's why she awaits for him in bed ("so she made her bed"). From then on, she will just sit and wait. He loves him, but she's convinced that all that internal fight has to be won from the inside.
He thinks he's doing things right, that talking is the way to sort things out with her. He doesn't realize that he has to sort things out with himself. That's why he believes he's wasting his time trying to talk sense to her.
So she combs her hair. She THINKS he tires easily. But he will never stop running around. Certainty is not something you find on the world. You find it inside yourself. It's only that Johnny doesn't know it.
this song is great, Placebo's cover is as well. i think it's about a relationship falling apart
Yeah, I think it's about a relationship falling apart as well. But both Johnny and Mary are too numb to do much about the whole thing. They're 'happy', if you will, with the status quo.
Sorry if what I write to You makes no sense. One of You will understand.
Could I be wrong, seeing this song in a different lIGHT. Consider that the namers/words Yin & Yang are just pointers to a more hidden meaning that is really there. Not only Chinese/foreign (/) placeholders - but more general. Being that human kind is utterly divided in itself. Could it even be a division in existence - the core of it?. This I several years misheard: Johnny is always running around, Trying to find peace of mind. Meaning: The King Monkey that we let our lives to live in stead of us. our mind's life is to be/Be. But this thing between us and the World is a wrongly attachment to putting expierences (when formerly put through and in memory) before the Expiencing itself. We stack too much. Every memory has a timeline in it, not always in the Right order in relation to previous memories. Or are there? Maybe writing should leave us the right pointers - now and then. (<See?).
Like Trying to find certainty. That is what we all do. Trying to convice that we're not lonely. Everything human thus humanity flows from there. We lack sense of perspective. Hence We are.If you cound foresee or explain your next step(s) - before you make it. That would be a worthy cause. I see there are more dimensions to it. Literally. Litterrally. There is time between seeing and confirming. When we write we can check again if it has coherence. If we could predict more we could find a better threshold of balance between being and
But more is not better, Robert. That I did not see this. So obvious. Why did it elude me. So long. So long?
If you make you bed, you'll lie in it. our choice. Your choice. I know now that you tire easily. Me. You. Just words. To circumvent experiencing. I meet you when you are there.
But pay hommage to the past - in memory. But don't expect too much that you have control in or of the future.
(Just saying high. Do you believe that?)
We invented We.
Can I speak to You?