Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Mary on the Mountain


My family just returned from a mini road trip to Montana. What really happened on this trip was a mini time warp back to my college days of listening to Chris and Johnny. These 2 folk artists grew up in Montana but spent many years in MN for college and music touring...and so just about every song they have written relates to I-90, Montana, Montana passes, rivers, places to stay etc...Sorry for Jody who has never taken to them!! We spent a couple days in an old miners town Butte. Really could have passed the town and wouldn't have minded..but that is where we made our stay as Jody was working on the trip helping to open a new store. So myself and the kids swam in the hotel pool, drank Starbucks, and swam some more. As our travels were coming to end we stopped once more at the Starbucks for the "get us out of town drink"..and as we waited for our drinks Jody pointed out the "Mary" statue in the mountains.and I then took my only picture on the trip. There she was, as Cedar later called her the "the white angel, Jesus mom" And thus the rest of the trip spent listening to Chris and Johnny and remembering the "good old days!" I found of copy of the last show and lyrics Chris and Johnny sang this song


"spoken to audience) Well, in Butte, Montana, they've, uh, in the, in the late eighties they built this big statue of Mary and they call her Our Lady of the Rockies and they put her on top of this mountain and, uh, you can't help but see her, anywhere you are in Butte you see Mary looking down on you and, uh, when you drive into Butte, you know, from wherever you're driving in from, you see Mary watching over the town, and uh, I think to some people it's a comforting thing. Uh, it's not, To me. (audience laughter) And uh, I couldn't help but write this song for Mary. It's called Mary on the Mountain.


Someone must've needed guidance On a very grand scale And now if you stumble out of any bar on Broadway She will be there looking down at you' Cos Mary's on the mountain.They made her over a hundred feet tall And almost half as wideThey gave her a robe of brilliant white And now you can see that there's no doubt That Mary is on the mountain.And the children ask their mothersWith more than a little fear,"Does she like it up there in that place?And is she happy? I can't see the faceOf Mary on the mountain."And the mothers tell their children,"You be sure you understand She's frowning when you deceive...She's smiling when you believe In Mary on the mountain."

(instrumental)


And all through high school she was thereAlways in the back of your mindIf you did something you knew wasn't rightYou made sure you did it out of the sightOf Mary on the mountain.Oh, but we did our share of drinkingAnd we had our share of funWhen we rode the truck out on County OneNo-one was there to see what we had doneBut Mary on the mountain.

(instrumental)

Last Friday night we climbed up thereTo the place where she standsAnd jumped over the fence and found our way through[?]The forbidden door, and up we climbedthrough Mary on the mountain.And sooner than we thoughtWe had reached the very topBut there was only darkness all aroundShe had no eyes-- you couldn't see the townFrom Mary on the mountain.We tried so hard to be perfectAnd we tried so hard to be kindShe couldn't see nothing for all this timeMaybe, my friend, we're just as blindAs Mary on the mountain."
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