Mary queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love is redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
Oh and you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the livewire is my trade
I've been a change man at your laundromat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing
The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I was not born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late, we can still infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'
Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait but you know you can't keep me from leavin'
Because on your bed, Mary, I see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn loose
And I know a place where we can go, Mary
Where I can get a good job and start all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico where the servants have been seen
The first ever track Springsteen laid down for Columbia, as noted by John Hammond at the beginning of an
epic journey that is Tracks. This song has for years been
criticized as perhaps the weakest in Bruce's catalogue. I have to agree as it is ponderous. However, it must
be said that the Tracks version is much stronger than one
that appears on Greetings From Asbury
Park, NJ.
