YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 72 (Mary, Mary)
(Originally finalized on April 23, 2024)
Preface: While searching for songs with girls' names in the title, the one name I came across that was the most frequently represented was "Mary". Whether or not this is due to religious influences in our culture, the fact stands. So here are a week's worth of songs about Mary!
Monday: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Mary, Mary [East-West, 1966]
Comments: Although the Paul Butterfield Blues Band released it first, you might be surprised (as I was) to learn that this song was written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, whose own version is predictably lighter and poppier than this one.
Tuesday: The Association - Along Comes Mary [And Then... Along Comes The Association, 1966]
Comments: My knowledge of The Association comes solely from their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, which was the precursor to Woodstock, and broke such illustrious acts in America as Janis Joplin, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix. In the film, the band plays this hit from their debut album, a catchy bop called Along Comes Mary.
Wednesday: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Wind Cries Mary [Are You Experienced?, 1967]
Comments: Originally released as a single, this song was later included on the American version of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut album. More of a lilting ballad (featuring some of Jimi's poetic lyrics) than the scorching rock and blues I like to hear, this isn't one of my favorite of Hendrix's tunes, but it was undoubtedly a huge hit for the band, with its ability to appeal to a wider range of listeners.
Thursday: Creedence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary [Bayou Country, 1969]
Comments: Speaking of huge hits, here's a song from Creedence Clearwater Revival's sophomore album that you might not know by name, but I could almost guarantee you'd recognize it if you heard it.
Friday: Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac - Sandy Mary [Live At The BBC, this track first broadcast 1970]
Comments: It's tragic how much great music the original incarnation of Fleetwood Mac produced that never made it onto their official studio albums. Many of those were captured live and in extended studio sessions, or for the BBC - like this crunchy rocker, which I imagine was written with Peter's girlfriend in mind (who also inspired him to write Black Magic Woman - a song that Santana covered to smashing success).
Saturday: Jethro Tull - Cross-Eyed Mary [Aqualung, 1971]
Comments: Third wheel to the title track and Locomotive Breath, both of which have had more reach (albeit not without merit), this is another rocker from the classic album Aqualung, mixing heavy guitar riffage with airy flute passages, in Jethro Tull's inimitable style.
Sunday: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Mary Had A Little Lamb [Texas Flood, 1983]
Comments: From Stevie Ray Vaughan's debut album, this is an interesting rendition of the classic nursery rhyme, Mary Had A Little Lamb. It only recently dawned on me that it's based on an arrangement Buddy Guy recorded 15 years earlier for his album A Man & The Blues.
Honorable Mention: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance [Greatest Hits, 1993]
Comments: As good as any song on this list (indeed, it's probably one of the greatest songs of all time, and sounds more like something out of the '70s than the '90s), I left it off the list because I wasn't sure if "Mary Jane" should count, or be considered a separate name; and also because there are probably a whole slew of other songs tied to the name Mary Jane, on account of its association with marijuana. But don't expect that theme; I'm not the stoner my taste in music would suggest. Although there have been a few cases of mistaken identity over the years...