I understand these lyrics to mean that an angry, drunken mob (who'd gathered underneath that sign), drove out to the "house of Mary" and terrorized her. The author's dream occurred when Mary died as a result, and "rose above it all."
It's the heartbreaking story of how people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities are misunderstood, and then feared, and then vilified, just as Boo Radley was in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
I think "That what you fear the most could meet you halfway" refers to the drunken mob giving into their own inner demons. They saw "Crazy Mary" as different, strange, to be reviled, to be feared. As they "passed the bottle around," they bought into a group-think mentality that "something must be done about her." or "let's go to Mary's house and raise Hell." And she didn't survive their assault on her.
It's a song about the tragedy of human cruelty toward people who are seen as different.
I understand these lyrics to mean that an angry, drunken mob (who'd gathered underneath that sign), drove out to the "house of Mary" and terrorized her. The author's dream occurred when Mary died as a result, and "rose above it all."
It's the heartbreaking story of how people with mental illness or intellectual disabilities are misunderstood, and then feared, and then vilified, just as Boo Radley was in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
I think "That what you fear the most could meet you halfway" refers to the drunken mob giving into their own inner demons. They saw "Crazy Mary" as different, strange, to be reviled, to be feared. As they "passed the bottle around," they bought into a group-think mentality that "something must be done about her." or "let's go to Mary's house and raise Hell." And she didn't survive their assault on her.
It's a song about the tragedy of human cruelty toward people who are seen as different.