She's skilled at the art of deception and she knows it
She's got dirty money that she plays with all the time
She waters the garden, but maybe she just likes the hoses
She puts herself just a notch above humankind
Ah, Mary. She'll make you cookies, then she'll burn your town
Ah, Mary. Ashes, ashes, but she won't fall down
She's the beat of my heart, she's the shot of a gun
She'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
Call her a bully, she'll blow up your whole damn playground
Pour her a drink and watch it go straight to her head
She'll take you so high up and cover her eyes as you fall down
Then in the morning, don't be surprised if you're dead
Ah, Mary, Mary, Mary . . . Ca. Oh, America.
~ Grace Potter
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals hail from Vermont, and as far as I am concerned, everything that comes out of Vermont is good. And Grace Potter is good. I have seen her perform, and the passion she puts into her delivery is arguably on a par with Janis Joplin. Well, close.
"Ah, Mary" appears on the 2007 release, This Is Somewhere. The lyrics are obviously striving for political metaphor. If the song is new to you, did you see the end coming? Did you know that "Mary" would end up being "America"? I ask because the first time I heard the song, I did not see that one coming. It isn't hard to follow the metaphor through with speculation on the "dirty money" or the bully references. But before you take offense and reject Potter for dissing America, take note of the last two lines of the chorus:
She's the beat of my heart, she's the shot of a gun
She'll be the end of me and maybe everyone
We are all complicit. We are cursed/blessed with a big dose of nationalism in this country, and it is always hard for us to admit when we, as a nation, may have strayed from our original purpose. But no matter the fear, no matter the divide, no matter the differing ideologies, we all know that America is an experiment in government as it should be. We may be messing it up here and there, playing with the hoses instead of taking care of our thirst, but we still all yearn for the same values: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Ah, Mary.
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