MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS^©

Mary queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, 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 shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
Oh you're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing

Oh the big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
Oh 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'
Oh it's not too late to infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'

Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait, ooh, to lie in bait and you almost got me believin'
But on your bed, Mary, I can see the shadow of a noose
Oh I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn loose

But I know a place where we can go Mary
Where I can get a good job and start out all over again clean
Oh I got contacts deep in Mexico where the servants have been seen

One of the first 4 or 5 songs auditioned for John Hammond on 02 May 1972 around 10:30am in Hammond's office in the A & R Department at Columbia Records. In a 1980 interview, Hammond mentioned he wasn't all that enamored with MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS, but that he loved all the other songs Bruce performed that morning. The song has for years been criticized as perhaps the weakest in Bruce's catalogue, and that the version that later appeared on Tracks is much stronger than the one that appeared on the Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ album.

The song was played for the 2nd Annual Halloween Concert on 29 Oct 1972 at the National Guard Armory, Long Brach, NJ. The next known performances were on 31 Jan 1973 at Max's Kansas City, New York, NY, on 14 Feb 1973 at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, and on 26 Feb 1973 at the The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA.

On 02 Jun 1973, the song was one of the 5 Bruce songs broadcasted on the WHFS-FM radio station, in Bethesda, MD. Also recorded on the afternoon of 09 Mar 1974 with 7 other songs at the KLOL-FM radio station recording studio, and broadcasted that same day. Later performed on 10 Mar 1974 for the final night at Liberty Hall, Houston, TX.

The song vanished until the Reunion tour, when it was played for the first time on 14 Mar 2000 at the Altel Arena, Little Rock, TX. Also played during that tour on 18 Apr 2000 at the Compaq Arena, Houston, TX, and on 27 Jun 2000 in Madison Square Gardens, NY. Performed only once during The Rising tour on 27 Sep 2002 at the Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI.

Check also the Tracks version.

Available on:

1. Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (track 3)
2. Tracks (disc 1- track 1)