# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/41 "2011-07-27T19:57:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Gaudere has to have something to do or else boredom sets in. > > It’s a pet peeve of mine too so I’m suitably embarrassed. Though you should have seen the first twelve versions. Hey, at least you’re a good sport. ---
**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 27, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/42 "2011-07-27T21:51:47Z")
> [@Shark](#): > > Starving Artist, I want to thank you for this thread. Because of it I went and learned how to play “Never My Love” on guitar last night. > > Rock on (or at least sway melodically)! Will do. 😃 And congratulations on learning the song. > [@Folacin](#): > > Of course, as noted by **Exapno Mapcase** , the band didn’t write the song - so their feelings about what it is about are not particularly more relevant than any listener (who, of course, is free to derive whatever meaning he wants). It’s entirely possible that the band had contact with the author and they discussed the meaning of the song. After all, they interacted with the writer of _Windy_ and in her case even invited her to the studio to sing in the fade out at the end. Or they may have heard it from someone in the author’s circle who got their information from him and passed it on to them. So I don’t think we can assume that the members of the band had no further insight into the song’s meaning than anyone else. > [@PlainJain](#): > > Oh OK, I see that now. Between that and the tempo (or pacing) changes it makes for a very unique song. I still can’t figure out if it’s about a very special girl or a drug. I would prefer that it be about a girl, and in the days when it was popular but I couldn’t understand the lyrics I thought it was. There were rumors at the time that it was about marijuana, but in those day _everything_ was rumored to be about drugs in some way, so I didn’t really buy it. But take a look at the lyrics again. If she’s a girl, how’s she going to “set them free and let them see reality from where she got her name”? One would expect she got her name from her parents. 😉 And then we have the fact that Mary seems to quell the unhappiness caused by troublesome girls and annoying neighbors, and to leave people gassed and flaccid, their dramas gone and their ambitions unrealized. This certainly describes just about everyone I knew in those days at the end of a night they spent smoking weed. 😃 The last verse is a little troublesome though. The effect the next morning seems to indicate a shattering and potentially mind altering experience through her the night before, and that’s way too strong a reaction to simply weed. But perhaps the author wasn’t that familiar with grass himself and got the effects of grass and LSD mixed together. Or perhaps someone with a little more experience along these lines than I have can come along to…uh…“elucidate” the meaning, if you get my drift. ---
**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 27, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/43 "2011-07-27T22:02:20Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Look, it’s (technically) a rock song, so it has to be about either drugs or blowjobs. Or lack of either. Reminds me of an argument I had with a friend back in college. HIM - Every song the Rolling Stones ever did is about either sex or drugs. ME - Ridiculous. What about _Street Fighting Man_? HIM - Who wrote it? ME - Jagger and Richards. HIM - There you go. Everything in Jagger and Richards’ life is either sex or drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/44 "2011-07-28T01:56:56Z")
Anyone else think of the montage on Breaking Bad to the song Windy? With Wendy the hooker? It was such a great use of the song, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/45 "2011-07-28T21:26:43Z")
Here it is, for those who are dying to see it, lol. Honestly, I think it’s one of the best uses of the song, ever. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cm-Li_yL03U/hqdefault.jpg "Breaking Bad Wendy Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-Li_yL03U) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/46 "2011-08-01T16:39:59Z")
That first LP (_And Then… Along Comes the Association_) was pretty promising for 1966. Besides “Along Comes Mary” and “Cherish”, it had several songs that hold up fairly well to what was being done at the time by the Mamas and Papas (“Your Own Love”, “Don’t Blame It on Me”, “Standing Still”) or the Beach Boys (“Message of Our Love”). The record also contains several goofy attempts at hipness which I find rather engaging (“Enter the Young”, “Blistered”, “Round Again”, “Changes”). One of my favorite Association songs is “[Wantin’ Ain’t Gettin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG-VFjsNSP4)’,” from _Insight Out_… it sounds like Beck. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/47 "2011-08-02T04:01:00Z")
I never bought an Association album and only knew of their radio hits. Clearly they were a much more versatile and talented band than I gave them credit for at the time. I may have to pop over to iTunes to buy that album. P.S. - Loved the _Breaking Bad_ video, **Indygrrl**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stefthecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Stefthecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stefthecat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/48 "2011-08-04T20:50:56Z")
Great site! Just found it today. So nice to hear the appreciation for The Association. Random thoughts, in no particular order: a) thanks for letting us know who wrote “Along Comes Mary.” b) Highly doubtful it was about pot - “eyes that flash at the sound of lies” can only really be about a person c) “Everything That Touches You” is their masterpiece. Look it up on You Tube, play it loud, be amazed. Did they write it? d) “Cherish” unfortunately is so overplayed as to be unlistenable today. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/49 "2011-08-04T22:10:15Z")
YouTube for [Everything That Touches You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfL_48K2ZFY). A great song, one of the best songs about love (rather than lust) in rock. Written by Terry Kirkland, their vocalist. ETA: “eyes that flash at the sound of lies” is from “Windy,” not “Along Comes Mary.” ---
**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:** [August 4, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/50 "2011-08-04T22:11:50Z")
Thanks for your post, **Stefthecat** , but a slight correction is in order. The “eyes that flash at the sound of lies” line is from _Windy_, not _Along Comes Mary_. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/51 "2011-08-04T22:17:05Z")
Are you sure that line isn’t from _Rio_ by Duran Duran? ---
**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:** [August 4, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352/52 "2011-08-04T22:53:43Z")
Just played _Everything That Touches You_. What a great song. And what memories! It’s good to be the teenager. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-association-along-comes-mary/590352.md?page=2)