Well, cutting through the cane break, rattling the sill
Thunder that the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill
Big light on the back street, hill to ever more
Packing down the ladder with the hammer to the floor
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah
Here come the Big Black Mariah, I seen the big black Ford

Well, he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Hunted Black Johnny with a blind man's cane
A yellow bullet with a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, got an old bell Jim
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the big black Ford

Sent to the skies on a Benny Jag Blue
Off to bed without his supper like a Linda bride do
He got to do the story with the old widow Jones
Got a wooden coat, this boy is never coming home
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah
Here come the Big Black Mariah, I seen that big black Ford
Cut through the canebrake, oh yeah

Well, he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Flat Blue Johnny with a blind man's cane
A hundred yellow bullets shook a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, on a bell you win
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the Big Black Mariah
Here come the Big Black Mariah, here come the big black Ford


Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira

Big Black Mariah Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits

Lyrics © JALMA MUSIC

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Big Black Mariah song meanings
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8 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    Well, it seems like this guy who's been drinking a lot of wine (box of Red Belle Dame?) and taking pills (Benny Jag Blue) went for ride in his sportscar and either crashed in the sugar cane and died or caused some accident where he's now going to jail. It seems like Big Black Mariah is a hearse, but Wikipedia says a Black Maria is a paddywagon. And one commenter below mentions that hearses are never Ford. So I think it's a man who's committed some crimes and got caught out in the countryside, and the paddywagon with its ladder and hammer to the floor done come take him away for good. He'll be wearing a wooden coat, meaning he'll probably be executed and put in a wooden coffin.

    thujoneon November 20, 2017   Link

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