Song of the Week Mother Mary (yes, you read it right!)

[J'net]

By popular request, this week's Song of the Week is Mother Mary by the infamous Foxboro Hot Tubs. It seems appropriate, however, to discuss this song in a Green Day forum, as it has been performed during a Green Day concert (see below). Please use this thread to discuss your thoughts and feelings about the song.

In 2008, the Foxboro Hot Tubs delighted Green Day fans by releasing Stop Drop & Roll, an album which included our current Song of the Week. You can read all about that exciting time here.

For reasons that will become obvious, I do adore this song, though it's never been my favorite from Stop Drop & Roll … except for a few minutes one night in San Jose, California. My favorite line is probably, "All dressed up like a switchblade knife."

Okay – special vids again this week! In this one, Billie speaks to me during the San Jose Green Day show last year, borrows my glasses, and sings the start of our Song of the Week to me a capella!

Here's another one from the San Jose show. You can actually see me in this one – I drop the glasses when Billie throws them back to me, and Arturo picks them up for me.

And here are the Foxboro Hot Tubs performing their song themselves in Dallas – 2(ish) years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkkKsL5JPsI

And the Foxboro Hot Tubs more recently on Carson Daly. I believe some of our forum members were pulled up on stage in this one, so speak up if one of those folks is you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPNeLYCrNCs

Mother Mary Lyrics

Do you want to elope tonight?

Getting lost in the shadows.

All dressed up like a switchblade knife -

Let's hang in love from the gallows.

Or we can take a walk around the lake -

There's a garden in the park there.

Under the stars next to the fireside

Anywhere is better than here.

Oh Mother Mary, take my hand.

I'll be a saint, I'll be your man.

I'll do most anything, 'cause I don't care ...

Oh Mother Mary, take my hand.

Take a ride on the midnight train

We'll fall asleep at the station.

Too much wine, driving me insane.

And then we'll miss our destination.

Oh well, too bad, who cares, it's all right.

As long as we will stick together.

In hell we'll reign in rows of sunshine.

We'll watch it rise and shine forever.

Oh Mother Mary, take my hand

I'll be a saint, I'll be your man.

I'll do most anything, 'cause I don't care ...

Oh Mother Mary, take my hand.

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You can nominate songs for discussion as Song of the Week in the Song Discussions thread, which contains links to each previous Song of the Week from 9/14/2009 forward in its original post.

[XxRedundantCastaway86xX]

love this song and the Foxboro Hot Tubs!

[champagne mami]

I've been in love with this song for the past month! I never get tired of it, it's so amazing.

I love how he says this part : "Oh well, too bad, who cares, it's all right." <333333333

[Laura!]

One of my all time favorite Foxies song.

[misslyssx]

This song is pretty sexy and my ringtone atm.

[justcause]

Oh jeez - the first time this song came, as I recall, in a thread called 'A Christmas Present from Green Day?' or somesuch, some people were 'this is definitely Billie Joe, I'd know that vocal anywhere' - and I fucking didn't know, not for sure at all, my first thought was 'this sounds like someone in disguise'. This spooky little song, a Hallowe'en romance, all about rekindling fires and sticking together - about drinking too much and missing your destination - in my mind, it was like a silhouette-play, something going on, some undercurrent beneath the surface-sweet, romance and switchblades. The title makes me think of Let It Be - 'when I find myself in times of sorrow, Mother Mary comes to me' - except this time, Mother Mary doesn't just come, there's this pleading, this wooing - 'take my hand'.

[Clayish]

I love the tubbies.

[spark in the night]

I remember when this song first came out and we were all freaking out on here

and omg I love it so much

I'm pretty sure it's my most played song on itunes

[Moffie]

YES! This song has been stuck in my head all day. I was trying to take my final and all I hear is, "Do you want to elope tonight...."

[Jinjonator]

I JUST made a lastfm and am listening to Green Day Radio, and this JUST started playing. Hurray for coincidences!

I prefer Pieces of Truth and The Pedestrian, but this song is great too.

[in_your_face]

awesome!!!! :woot: it's one of my favorite songs!!! <33

my fav. lines from this song ..

"Oh well, too bad, who cares, it's all right.

As long as we will stick together.

In hell we'll reign in rows of sunshine.

We'll watch it rise and shine forever."

[JHyena86]

My favorite song. Ever. And that Dallas video = love. Best night of my life. I remember during this song, Mike made eye contact and smiled at me during the "I'll be your saint, I'll be your man." Ever since then I re-see it in my mind when I hear the song. Oh, and I'm the girl screaming REALLY loudly at the end <3

[Rebel07]

I love Mother Mary, its probably one of my favorite foxboro songs. and J'Net! I saw that video of Billie singing Mother Mary to you a while back and it made me tear up! So sweet!

[mandajane]

LOVE THIS SONG

[Roxxiie.]

I love it MOTHER MARY ♥

OH MOTHER MARY TAKE MY HAND (8 (?

[Heather!]

I listened to Mother Mary for the first time in aaaages this morning! It has such cute lyrics, I love the second verse best.

In hell we'll reign in rows of sunshine

We'll watch it rise and shine forever

[Bastard of 1967]

By popular request, this weeks Song of the Week is Mother Mary by the infamous Foxboro Hot Tubs.

Oh baby, baby it's -- no, wait, that's for some other SOTW. What I must say is this: OH F*CKING-A WHAT A WONDERFUL PICK!! This song is just a massive jam, pure, simple, punchy, and with killer lyrics to boot. Easily makes my top two or top three FHT tunes and I almost always love listening to it when the iPod hoarks it up.

We have come to expect Green Day and their alter egos to frequently take moody, deep, dark, dense concepts and themes, and package them in pop-infused shit-kicking rhythms, melodies, and harmonies. Mother Mary fits well within this, and I think takes it up another level.

I agree 100% with Angeline's post earlier in this thread:

This spooky little song, a Hallowe'en romance, all about rekindling fires and sticking together - about drinking too much and missing your destination - in my mind, it was like a silhouette-play, something going on, some undercurrent beneath the surface-sweet, romance and switchblades. The title makes me think of Let It Be - 'when I find myself in times of sorrow, Mother Mary comes to me' - except this time, Mother Mary doesn't just come, there's this pleading, this wooing - 'take my hand'.

....that sums it up perfectly. I do want to focus more deeply on that pleading, behind-the-scenes undercurrent she mentioned -- because I think there is a hell of a lot going on in that undercurrent. Take a look at some key words and phrases in the lyrics:

Elope...Shadows -- we're doing something sneaky, something that we don't want anyone else to know about.

All dressed up like a switchblade knife -- Who is the knife pointing at? Was it actually used? There is blood all around...

hang in love from the gallows -- Some people fall in love. Others fall into something destructive, even life-threatening, that they *think* is love.

Anywhere is better than here -- In light of the above, this may be a thinly-disguised reference to suicide.

I'll do most anything, 'cause I don't care -- I'd kill myself or someone else over you.

Too much wine driving me insane/And then we'll miss our destination -- keep reading.

"As long as we will stick together in hell, we'll reign in rows of sunshine. We'll watch it rise and shine forever" -- My changed punctuation is deliberate. "Eternity" is all over this lyric, as are other elements. Just keep reading, y'hear?

Behind the peppy garage-rock sound lies a deeply disturbed relationship. The more I try to figure out exactly what the relationship is that Billie is writing about, the more I come back to the one key lyric that repeats throughout the song: "Oh Mother Mary, take my hand."

We know from interviews, biographies, and other sources that Billie has gone through a great deal of personal turmoil and rebellion insofar as his Catholic upbringing is concerned. But he's not your run of the mill atheist or agnostic -- he actually paid attention to the dogma. Even more importantly, he sees the world around him and he recognizes what his one-time religion's teachings have done to it. Here, in Mother Mary, he records some of what he learned, labels it as bullshit, and shoots it full of holes. Loosely translated, here is what I find at the song's deepest levels:

"Mother Mary" is the representative of the church. She is one that you pray to. She is a guardian, a savior, a saint, a spiritual representative of God's love toward humanity. But "as implemented", the church is shadowy and sinister. It hooks you through your parents' influence when you're young and can't make a knowing, intelligent choice for yourself. Let's go for a walk around the lake, there's a beautiful garden we want to show you....and while you're there and when nobody else is looking we'll suck away your power to say "no". We'll elope and you won't even realize 'til it's way too late that -- wow -- you're, like, stuck with us now. And now that you're sucked in we'll teach you how to hate, kill, and destroy in the name of the God you so dearly profess to love, and who so dearly professes to love you. It'll give you such a mind-fuck that nobody with a sense of reason would want to willingly take on these teachings. So here, have some communion wine (or perhaps some stronger substances?) to make it all feel better. You'll be so wrapped up in the ritual and the dogma that you won't remember to look around you and see what all this is really doing to the world. But out of this arises what we truly lust for -- the power to rule our hell-on-earth for eternity -- so I'll do everything you tell me to. In your name. According to your will. Because after umpteen years of repetition it comes so automatically that I don't even think to stop and give half a shit about what the consequences are anymore. I'll go through the motions, and I just won't care.

Edit: WHEW. I think I need to lay off the coffee for a few days. Ta ta til the next SOTW!

[heartscollide]

HNNNNNG. YES.

Okay so there's a reason this is my 3rd top played song ever (263 plays)

I love the way it makes me wanna dance.

[The Breakdown]

Yay.

[norcalgreendayfan]

I love Mother Mary that is my favourite song off of Stop Drop and Roll. I could really listen to that song over and over again. That was so awesome when I was right there next to you in SAN JOSE when Billie talked to you before he took your glasses and went in to Mother Mary. That was such an amazing night indeed

[Jaddedkitten]

Mother Mary is my fav... well now second favorite right after it's fuck time :eyebrow: FBHT song and that video did nothing but make me want a full a capella version of Mother Mary his voice is so beautiful

[poisonoak]

love love love this song!!!!!

[Alan86]

One of those fun songs that always puts me in a better mood.

[Katarina.]

Woohoo, my vote is chosen! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mother Mary and the Foxboro Hot Tubs

"Oh Mother Mary take my hand.."

[Hanner]

aahhhh love this song!

i swear they played a teaser of it at the Sacramento show. if i find a vid of it ill post it. i just remember it being awesome and thinking OMG MOTHER MARY! but i cant find any evidence of this, soo maybe im delusional?

haha that line "All dressed up like a switchblade knife." my friend and i were wondering how one would actually dress up like a switchblade knife, soo guess what we're going to be for halloween?

edit: ok so i checked to make sure im not crazy, and they defiantly did play a teaser of it at the Sac show. thank gawd, i thought i was going insane.