Take a Message to Mary

Posted in response to Totally Optional Prompts‘ request for poems inspired by the ‘Send a Message’ prompt. When I read the prompt, I immediately thought of this song in the version I know – by Bob Dylan. It is on Self-Portrait from 1970 (also see my previous Belle Isle post). I seem to recall that it was originally recorded by the Everly Brothers. (It was a chart hit for them in 1959.) Here goes:

These are the words of a frontier man
Who lost his love when he turned bad.

Take a message to Mary
But don’t tell here where I am
Take a message to Mary
But don’t say I’m in a jam
You can tell her that I had to see the world
Tell her that my ship set sail
You can say she’d better not wait for me
But don’t tell her I’m in jail
Oh don’t tell her I’m in jail

Take a message to Mary
But don’t tell her what I’ve done
Please don’t mention the stage coach
And the shot from a careless gun
You can tell her that I had to change my plans
And cancel out the wedding day
But please don’t mention the lonely cell
Where I’m gonna pine away
Until my dying day

Take a message to Mary
But don’t tell her all you know
My heart is aching for Mary
Lord knows I miss her so
Just tell her that I went to Timbuktu
Tell her that I’m searching for gold
You can say she better find someone new
To cherish and to hold
Oh Lord this cell is cold

Written by B. & F. Bryant