Bloody Mary

Money.

Love, is just a history that they may prove And when you're gone I'll tell them my religion's you When Pontius to kill the king upon his throne I'm ready for their stones.

I'll dance, dance, dance With my hands, hands, hands Above my head, head, head Like Jesus said. I'm gonna dance, dance, dance With my hands, hands, hands Above my head Dance together Forgive him before he's dead Because

I won't cry for you I won't crucify the things you do I won't cry for you, see, When you're gone, I'll still be Bloody Mary.

LOVE!

We are not just art for Michelangelo to carve He can't rewrite the agro of my furied heart I wait, on mountain tops in Paris cold Je ne veux pas mourrir toute seule

I'll dance, dance, dance With my hands, hands, hands Above my head, head, head Like Jesus said I'm gonna dance, dance, dance With my hands, hands, hands Above my head Dance together Forgive him before he's dead Because

I won't cry for you I won't crucify the things you do I won't cry for you, see, When you're gone, I'll still be Bloody Mary.

LOVE!

GaGa x 8 Dum dum da da da Dum dum da da da d-d-da da da Dum dum da da da Dum dum da da da Dum dum da da da d-d-da da da Dum dum da da da

I won't cry for you I won't crucify the things you do I won't cry for you, see, When you're gone, I'll still be Bloody Mary.

Oh, Liberdade... Mi amor...

I thought this song was about 'bloody' Mary Tudor and her husband Philip II of Spain. She was a crazy Catholic, burning Protestants left right and centre, hence all the references to doing Jesus's bidding. Philip married her for the English crown and spent most of their marriage in Spain. However, poor Mary was deeply in love with him and all Philip's distaste towards her made her understandably very upset: therefore refusing to cry over him, reprimanding love, etc.

I think its about a lover whom she now hates and wises his death. And when he's dead she'll say she loved him. She know's you're expected to be good and forgiving and all that (like Jesus said), which she will be, but not without getting her vengeance (forgive him before he's dead). "We are not just art for Michelangelo to carve. He can't rewrite the agro of my furied heart." i.e. people are not beautiful sculptures, they're multi-dimensional, they have an ugly side, and hate is hate, it can't just be rewritten...

The first time I heard the title of this and the first time I listened to it my immediate reaction was to think of the legend of Bloody Mary (sorry if I'm about to creep people out haha), the demon-thingy-person that apparently kills you if you say her name 5 times in a mirror or some stupid shit like that. That was my first thought. I'm not even slightly religious, so I didn't really pay attention to the christian references. But if I'm putting that meaning on it the only real bit that I believe can reference it is the chorus~~

I won't cry for you I won't crucify the things you do I won't cry for you, see, When you're gone, I'll still be Bloody Mary.

She won't cry for them, because they called for her. She killed 'you', whoever 'you' is referenced to at the time, but she's going to continue killing people when they call for her, because it's what she does ;)

Was this anyone else's first thought when they first heard the song, or just the title?

When she says "Pontius," she's actually saying "Punk-tius." I thought it was clever.

And those first lyrics by jommy are /really/ wrong. xD

This song is a very deep one for me. Gaga said in an interview that she is very intrigued by the whole persona of Mary Magdalene, so she involved her in many of the lyrics and symbolism in BTW. She also gave her initial idea in the same interview but I can't recall which one it was. So, here is what I could extract:

1. The whole "confession" is presented on behalf of Mary Magdalene, assuming she was Jesus Christ's beloved. So, the first line is a statement about the inability of Christianity to accept this kind of love that presumably they had towards each other. On the other hand, it is a sophisticated philosophical essence about love being unprovable.
2. The second line is an obvious reference to the way Mary Magdalene and all of Christ's followers kept their faith after the Crucifixion and even more after the Ascension of Jesus. It also relates to the lyrics of Gaga's song "Teeth" from The Fame Monster, which, for me, makes this song a bit more dirty.
3. The Punk-tius is clearly Pontius Pilate who is responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, but this version of his name takes me to this futuristic vision of Gaga on Biblical stories. (The Judas video) The "king" is therefore a metaphor for Jesus and here is the first time the central message is delivered - Gaga declares that Mary Magdalene knew what was about to happen and she accepted it - she was "ready".
4. The pre-chorus is a part I am not sure how to decode. There might be some popular imagery connected to the "dance" but I see it like some prayer-dance: "hands together". Here is actually also a piece of the core meaning - "forgive him before he's dead" - Gaga gives a hint at the fact that it was clear to Mary Magdalene that Jesus would die.
5. The chorus is the climax of the meaning of this song. The conclusion is simple - Mary understands the way things will evolve, she won't cry but what Gaga says here is: Even after Jesus is gone Mary lives and the epithet "bloody" could be understood in two ways: 1) It could be a more avant-garde way to say "mortal". 2) It could be a reference to Mary I, Queen of England. However, I can't really relate the Christian symbolism to her but maybe Gaga is implying something here as well.
6. The first line of the second verse is a reference to this sculpture, I suppose: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/italy/florence/duomomuseo/0081copy.jpg Mary is on the right. The implication leads to the second line and Gaga expresses that the loss of the person she loved would be hard even for Mary and art can not really depict that.
7. The third line of the second verse refers to La Madeleine in Paris.
8. Je ne veux pas mourir tout seule - I don't want to die alone. A clear statement which comes as a final word, concluding the whole confession.

Artistically, the lyrics are very conceptual and meaningful. Of course, I may be missing something or putting too strong accent on something, which does not deserve it, but as a whole I think I managed to capture the main point.

Lady Gaga on her facebook: "BLOODY MARY is about living halfway between reality and fantasy."

I have to say this song scares the hell out of me, I love it, but the music just gives me shivers, and I hate the words 'bloody mary' aswell.

Oh also, this song is freakin' amazing in concert!! I saw her the other day. If any of you get the chance, you need to see her for the Born this Way ball tour :D

Teeth reference! :D

I love this one, one of about three surprisingly downtempo songs on BTW - also, one of a couple kinda religious ones. But it's Gaga, so she's singing from Mary Magdalene's POV. Which is a pretty fucking cool direction to go.