MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS^©

Tracks version

Mary queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and this 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
Oh you're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing

Well 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 wasn't born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
Oh it's not too late, we can still infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'

Well Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
Oh you wake and wait to lie in bait but you know you can't keep me from leavin'
Because on your bed, 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 loose

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

This is the Tracks version of MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS recorded from the CBS audition for John Hammond on 03 May 1972 at CBS Studios, New York City, NY. Note that this Tracks track starts with a non-Bruce introduction: "Bruce Springsteen, Columbia Pop audition, job number 79682, Mary Queen Of Arkansas, take 1".

This same take appeared before in 1992 on The Unsurpassed Springsteen volume 3 bootleg. It is noted on that bootleg that the audition took place on 06 May 1972.

Thanks Fraser Mummery for the lyrics corrections.

Available on:

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