Lyrics that have you stumped...???

Spiderbaby

For the life of me....I can not figure out the line in Crazy Mary right after...

...Looked down into the house of Mary
????? ???? ????
Newspaper covered walls
and Mary rising above it all

Bare bone stalls....Blue overalls.....????

I've listened to 100 different bootleg versions and can never quite make out that line.
Somebody help me please....???

What lyrics give you trouble (it doesn't have to be this song)

Isaac

I always thought it was... "a parable from newspaper covered walls"

I am almost positive that *isn't* correct though... it is possible that the "newspaper covered walls" part is correct. Good question.

Jokertt14

http://bit.ly/bhn4zO

She lived on a curve in the road, in an old tar-paper shack
On the south side of the town, on the wrong side of the tracks
Sometimes on the way into town we'd say:
"Mama, can we stop and give her a ride?"
Sometimes we did but her hands flew from her side
Wild eyed, crazy Mary

Down a long dirt road, past the Parson's place
The old blue car we used to race
Little country store with a sign tacked to the side
Said "No L-O-I-T-E-R-I-N-G allowed"
Underneath that sign always congregated quite a crowd

Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around

One night thunder cracked mercy backed outside her windowsill
Dreamed I was flying high above the trees, over the hills
Looked down into the house of Mary
Bare bulb blown, newspaper-covered walls, and Mary rising up above it all

Next morning on the way into town
Saw some skid marks, and followed them around
Over the curb,through the fields, into the house of Mary

That WHAT you fear the most, could meet you halfway
That WHAT you fear the most, could meet you halfway
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around

klusterfuk

08/18/2000 Indy classic

Dissidentman

I always heard it as "bare bulb on...newspaper covered walls..."

BALLBOY

About 90% of the lyrics have me stumped so what i do is listen to them over & over again. You know you are listening to great music when you are challenged to understand what is trying to be said. Pear Jam & Ed are the masters of that.

TravisTheSky

Damn, that song is so good that I even love it when Victoria Williams is singing!

I love how, even thought it isn't a PJ creation, it mirrors lines from their songs like "She will rise above" and "floated back down 'cause he wanted to share."

BALLBOY

TravisTheSky wrote:

Damn, that song is so good that I even love it when Victoria Williams is singing!

I love how, even thought it isn't a PJ creation, it mirrors lines from their songs like "She will rise above" and "floated back down 'cause he wanted to share."

Heard it on a digital radio station last week a nice surprise.

Mop Handle Mama

Yellow Ledbetter....most of it.

i_lov_it

Corduroy...Can never really understand the Lyrics there!...Only part of the song!

patrickcarson

I thought I read somewhere that the lyrics were, "bare bulb spot on, newspaper covered walls... which was describing the inside of the tar paper shack in which Mary lived. "Spot on" is a british term for "just so". Do what you will with my wisdom. :shock:

patrickcarson

and not to discredit my last post, I also just read "A bare-bald spot on - newspaper covered walls, Mary rising up above it allll alllllllllllll ah-ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhh ah ahhhhhhhhhhhh. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AH AH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." ( That was from the benaroya version)

So CLEARLY, Mary has stolen a newspaper article from her own wall and the information found in said article was actually instructions on how to fly that she found from an article of WIRED magazine.

I am like a PJ lyrical Buddha. Sooo wise.

Got a hard hard head

I've always been completely thrown by:

As priveleged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door
Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed, anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor

It's an incredibly good song, I just wish I understood a little more!

slightofjeff

Got a hard hard head wrote:

I've always been completely thrown by:

As priveleged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door
Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed, anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor

It's an incredibly good song, I just wish I understood a little more!

Basically ... what it was like to be Pearl Jam (or more specifically, ed vedder) in 1994 ... people wanting your time ... your money ... your art ... can you fake it, for just one more show?

You're basically a whore ... forced to go on stage even when you might not be feeling it ... you don't have rights. You can't say no.

Surrendered but executed anyhow .... you give up ... you give in ... you do whatever "they" say ... and they still want more ... they still take more. They take your soul.

The cigar box in the final line is what happens if you don't break the pattern. If you don't break away. A cigar box, after all, is where they found Kurt Cobain's personal effects -- right next to his lifeless body -- after he shot himself.

Vitalogy was a very dark time. That album captures the sound of a band on the verge of unraveling.

DangDang

"Louie's butt is long I see
Feeds the weeds at night"

Got a hard hard head

slightofjeff wrote:

Got a hard hard head wrote:

I've always been completely thrown by:

As priveleged as a whore
Victims in demand for public show
Swept out through the cracks beneath the door
Holier than thou, how?
Surrendered, executed, anyhow
Scrawl dissolved, cigar box on the floor

It's an incredibly good song, I just wish I understood a little more!

Basically ... what it was like to be Pearl Jam (or more specifically, ed vedder) in 1994 ... people wanting your time ... your money ... your art ... can you fake it, for just one more show?

You're basically a whore ... forced to go on stage even when you might not be feeling it ... you don't have rights. You can't say no.

Surrendered but executed anyhow .... you give up ... you give in ... you do whatever "they" say ... and they still want more ... they still take more. They take your soul.

The cigar box in the final line is what happens if you don't break the pattern. If you don't break away. A cigar box, after all, is where they found Kurt Cobain's personal effects -- right next to his lifeless body -- after he shot himself.

Vitalogy was a very dark time. That album captures the sound of a band on the verge of unraveling.

Wow! Thanks for that, you've obviosuly studied the lyrics a lot more than I have!