I personally feel that Mary leaves home, attains enlightenment, and becomes the new Messiah. Not Christian or any specific Messiah--just an enlightened person (I get this from the 'though her hands would sometimes bleed'--that's stigmata). I also get this feeling from 'though it hurt at first/and no one could comfort her' because spiritual enlightenment seems like a hard and painful thing to do.
I would think it's about drugs or prostitution--if there weren't lines like 'and she grew so much inside.' When singing about drugs, you usually don't mention someone's spiritual growth. The lines 'and her family took her aside and put their arms around her/They said/Mary, won't you please come back to us now/There is still time to repent for all your sins' also seem to cast sympathy on Mary rather than the plight of her family and friends.
It has a somewhat melancholy tune, which makes one think it's from the POV of Mary herself reminiscing about her past.
I suppose Mary doesn't have to be a Messiah--she could be any girl who leaves home and gains some sort of knowledge about herself. She could be a lesbian, a magician, even a scientist because of how vague the metaphor is. I just don't think this is really about Mary's 'downfall' per se.
I personally feel that Mary leaves home, attains enlightenment, and becomes the new Messiah. Not Christian or any specific Messiah--just an enlightened person (I get this from the 'though her hands would sometimes bleed'--that's stigmata). I also get this feeling from 'though it hurt at first/and no one could comfort her' because spiritual enlightenment seems like a hard and painful thing to do.
I would think it's about drugs or prostitution--if there weren't lines like 'and she grew so much inside.' When singing about drugs, you usually don't mention someone's spiritual growth. The lines 'and her family took her aside and put their arms around her/They said/Mary, won't you please come back to us now/There is still time to repent for all your sins' also seem to cast sympathy on Mary rather than the plight of her family and friends.
It has a somewhat melancholy tune, which makes one think it's from the POV of Mary herself reminiscing about her past.
I suppose Mary doesn't have to be a Messiah--she could be any girl who leaves home and gains some sort of knowledge about herself. She could be a lesbian, a magician, even a scientist because of how vague the metaphor is. I just don't think this is really about Mary's 'downfall' per se.