# The Association: Along Comes Mary **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352 "2011-07-26T02:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/1 "2011-07-26T02:54:45Z")
I haven’t thought about these guys or this song in decades, but for some reason I found myself humming the melody to _Windy_ (yes, “Windy”, not Wendy - don’t know why that is) the other day, and in looking it up on Youtube was reminded of watching this performance of [Along Comes Mary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esDUHNi9Er8) on the Smothers Brothers Show back in the day. It’s a clever song with a great hook, intricate, inventive word play, and a kick ass performance by Jim Yester on lead vocals. See if you can listen to it just once. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/2 "2011-07-26T03:26:11Z")
I heard this song on the radio a few days ago, and realized that I couldn’t understand any of it other than “along comes Mary” and the bizarrely over-enunciated “sweet as the punch”. It may have clever wordplay, but I can’t make heads nor tails of what they recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/3 "2011-07-26T03:35:03Z")
Yeah, I couldn’t understand them back in the day either. If I could, I would have appreciated the song even more. Thank goodness we have the internet now, eh? 🙂 Here are the words: Every time I think that I’m the only one who’s lonely Someone calls on me And every now and then I spend my time in rhyme and verse And curse those faults in me And then along comes Mary And does she want to give me kicks , and be my steady chick And give me pick of memories Or maybe rather gather tales of all the fails and tribulations No one ever sees ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/4 "2011-07-26T04:06:23Z")
[Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVmw9U5p0yk&feature=related) a pretty cool clip of The Association performing the song live as the opening act at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/5 "2011-07-26T04:09:42Z")
Good God, were we ever that young? And **SA** , considering it’s a dope song, through and through, were you ever that young? 😉 First band I ever heard described as “as gay as a tree full of parrots.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/6 "2011-07-26T04:19:14Z")
Nope. [The Association "Along Comes Mary" 1980 Reunion - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4iCS5D3IjU&feature=related) That much hair in 1980? Not a chance. Freddie Mercury buzz cut and a moustache? Yeah. A white Afro? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/7 "2011-07-26T04:42:05Z")
Great bass line too. I discovered that fact when I set up my computer in front of the left speaker for my stereo. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/8 "2011-07-26T04:46:02Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Good God, were we ever that young? And **SA** , considering it’s a dope song, through and through, were you ever that young? 😉 > > First band I ever heard described as “as gay as a tree full of parrots.” 😃 Yeah, and those were older dudes to me at the time too. I was 18 when that song came out, and my hair looked a lot like the lead singer’s - same color, texture, thickness and style. My hair is still one of my best features. 😃 Jim Yester, the lead singer, looked a lot like a good friend I had at the time. That guy (the one I knew) had so many girls after him he couldn’t keep their names straight. 😉 And if “Mary” Jane was as far as it’d gone, I think the whole country would have been a lot better off. I have no problem with the weed aspect of the song. 🙂 **silenus** - the bass player is a sad story. He died of a heroin overdose in 1972 at 29 years of age. I’ve read that his son plays keyboards with the band, which still tours today. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/9 "2011-07-26T04:48:06Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Nope. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4iCS5D3IjU&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4iCS5D3IjU&feature=related) > > That much hair in 1980? Not a chance. Freddie Mercury buzz cut and a moustache? Yeah. A white Afro? Nope. Yikes! My hair never looked like that. :eek: 😃 Great performance though. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/10 "2011-07-26T05:10:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > **silenus** - the bass player is a sad story. He died of a heroin overdose in 1972 at 29 years of age. I’ve read that his son plays keyboards with the band, which still tours today. That is sad. We lost far too many at such a young age. My belief is that we decided, in October, 1962. every day we got was gravy. There is something to realizing, when you are eight, that by all rights you should be dead. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/11 "2011-07-26T05:13:01Z")
Damn, I imagine so. I had to hit my fifties before I started realizing each day was a gift. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/12 "2011-07-26T05:25:07Z")
Yeah, remembering October, '62 while living not that far from DC put a lot of stuff in perspective. Could we get across the Blue Ridge before the fallout got us and prevailing winds sent it elsewhere, for instance. Every day is a gift, and I can actually thank Nikita Khrushchev for not being the total psycho Castro wanted him to be. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/13 "2011-07-26T05:32:09Z")
I remember reading once that the main reason war never broke out was that Russians loved their grandkids too. Poignant and sobering at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/14 "2011-07-26T10:26:28Z")
Where is the love for “Cherish”!? You don’t know how many times I wished that I had told you! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/15 "2011-07-26T10:56:02Z")
No slight intended. _Cherish_ is a great unrequited love song. And let’s not forget _Never My Love_ either, which, according to Wiki, holds the record for the second most-played record of the 20th century, though some of those plays were cover versions by acts like _The 5th Dimension_ and _Blue Swede_. Still, _The Association’s_ version was the most popular by far, and deservedly so. It’s just that _Along Comes Mary_ was the song that grabbed me the most when I came to Youtube looking for _Windy_. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/16 "2011-07-26T13:14:51Z")
I clearly remember loving ‘Mary’ as a young-un. Unlike so many other songs of this era, it never fell far from my radar. I never knew of the marijuana rumors, though; that sounds like an extreme stretch to me. ‘Never My Love’ doesn’t receive the acclaim it deserves. Yeah, I know it’s played far and wide, but I think it is thought of as nothing more than a pleasant pop/soft rock tune. It is truly a beautiful melody. The only other Association song I recall aside from those already mentioned is ‘Enter the Young’. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/17 "2011-07-26T13:31:24Z")
The lyrics are much easier to hear in [The Bloodhound Gang’s remake](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RaLEVmuM4o&ob=av2e). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/18 "2011-07-26T15:14:43Z")
I’m slightly too young to have heard this song when it came out so it was always a sort of oldie that I heard in certain situations and though I always liked it I never really associated it with anything but a co-worker I had in the early 90s whose name was Mary. Ditto Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary”. I just came by to reveal that it never occured to me to associate it with pot. Yes, I said it. Possibly the most overt drug reference in any song and this former pothead never got it :smack: It does add a nice dimension to it now that my ignorance has been fought. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/19 "2011-07-26T16:25:33Z")
I was in 8th grade when _Mary_ came out, and even then I considered it to be more of an exercise in trying to write clever lyrics than a song. _Windy_ was cute, although her having “stormy eyes that flash with the sound of lies” spoiled the general hippy, fun in the sun attitude. \*Never My Love \*was a great song with great harmonies and IMHO is the song the Association should be remembered for. _Cherish_, by contrast, is a self-pitying, “I looooooove you so MUCH” adolescent crush – with a rhyming dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/20 "2011-07-26T16:35:55Z")
**Starving Artist** , you’ve been around long enough to know the guidelines on copyrighted materials. Quote no more than a verse or two, and link to the lyrics elsewhere if you want to refer to more than that. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352.md?page=2)