Ocean Born Mary

Robert James

This one is pretty sad. Sad as in, it’s not very good, not sad as in it’s a sad song.

I spent one afternoon working exclusively in 7/8. This was the third thing I came up with. It’s the worst of the three. I still sort of like the groove, but not that much.

The lyrics are based on a New Hampshire ghost story about an Irish couple who had a baby while crossing the ocean. Just after the birth the ship was boarded by pirates. The captain was a teenager and he was about to have all of the passengers killed when he found the baby. He told the parents he’d spare them all if they named it after his mother. Years later she was a widow and he was retiring from the pirate game. He searched for her, found her, and married her. That’s like the creepiest part of the whole story. Now she’s a ghost who wanders around Londonderry, NH. I have some friends in that town. I wonder if they’ve ever met her.

The guitars are all Les Paul.

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/oceanborn_mary.html

Ocean born mary
she’s still around
driving her carraige
haunting the town

Seen on the stair case
seen by the dawn
Ocean born mary
never quite gone

crossing the ocean
born on the ship
spared by the captain
go on with the trip

The pirate would let them
go on their way
if they would name her
for his mother that day

many years after
on with their lives
somehow he found her
and made her is wife

Out in the back yard
a sword through his heart
she never left him
she would never depart