Who did kill Mary?* And other unsolved song mysteries

[IntelligentInputDarling]

*Hazard - Richard Marx.

Anyone know what happened to poor Mary?
Do we think she's still somewhere down by the river, in that old Nebraska town?

Who shot the deputy?

I didn't know Sinead covered it, will check it out, thank you ❤️

Mine husbands emotional affair partner too…must be something in the name

Mr Lennon I have a few questions for you regarding some of your songs:

Why is Paul a walrus?

Why were the penguins elementary? And why did the dog die , how did the custard get in its eye, was it something to do with that?

What is this business with cookoo cashew nuts at the end of I am the Walrus? Are you rather fond of cahews? Or cuckoos?

Why are you in a tree and why is no one else in it? And you say the tree is high or low? Trees are high, innit? (Not that kind of high)

Why do you say hello when others say goodbye?

(I think you've maybe been partaking in a bit too many sugar cubes myself. Maybe you need to stick to fish and finger pies beneath blue suburban skies. Or something)

She was part of the witness protection scheme and had to take on being french to complete the disguise.

He took so long to bake a cake to a recipe that he’ll never be able to see again, yet he didn’t take steps to ensure that it wouldn’t be left outside in the event of a downpour. That’s a mystery. And while we’re at it, how come he’ll never be able to get that recipe again? Did someone burn the one remaining copy? And if so, why?

I rather like this theory!

When will I see you again?

Yes Bjorn, my mother always knew. They usually do…

I always wondered was the fish, candy and everything she had in her hand enough to get back her man?

I know, right? He is meticulous enough to mention specifically that the pants being ironed are striped. And that his lover's dress is yellow. And even what board game the old dudes are playing underneath the trees. Yet somehow very remiss about leaving a cake (for a wedding, no less!) In the rain. Ok I know they didn't have Google or weather apps in 1969, but come on, you think they would listen to the radio or something or watch the tv.

What is love?

(Haddaway incase anyone is wondering)

@Zonder I need to get myself on the Witness Protection Scheme, it sounds quite a nice life. Diamonds and pearls in your hair, St. Moritz, getting your paintings in the Sorbonne, rich friends who give you racehorses!

As someone from northern origins, I cannot read the word haddaway without thinking “and shite.” 😂

Did he get answers or does the question still remain to "Am I ever gonna see your face again?"

So many questions about what's kicking off in Nazareth. Who is
Fanny and why do they need to take a load off? Why is a lady called Carmen walking with the devil? So many questions !!

I’ve always firmly believed that the boy who isn’t right did actually kill Mary. He’s too defensive. And wants to go on the run. And in the video doesn’t he set a caravan on fire? It feels prejudiced in 2025 to point the finger at him but the song was written in the 80s before these things mattered.

Don’t you want me?

Because just like me, they want to be close to you. That one is also not a mystery!

Could also be Howard Jones, to be fair. He does go on to give an explanation in the song, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Yeh but why should he mind why should he mind what you think of his lyrics?

Roses I believe

The song does end with Bobbie Gentry singing about throwing flowers into the water from the bridge. But earlier in the song the pastor mentions a girl "who looks a lot like you" flinging something off Choctaw ridge. I had assumed that was something else, like an illegitimate stillborn (or darker still, murdered?) Child, possibly? Why would she put flowers in the water before Billie Joe's suicide anyway? We place flowers where someone has died.

The song spells it Billie-Joe. Why was the first part of his name the female spelling? Even had he been named after his grandmother or mother, surely they would have spelled it ending in Y.

I think I'm maybe over thinking this! 😁

Yep, @OneForTheRoadThen clearly (what I presume to be) the sheriff. This is the original music video. Pay attention to how much the sheriff appears in the background, and in the end Mary goes to get in the sheriff's car.

Also someone posted in the YT comments: "The sheriff did it! I met Richard Marx in Toronto in '94 at Much Music headquarters. I asked his opinion on who killed Mary and he asked ME what I thought instead. I told him that I thought the sheriff did it - and he said he was "inclined to agree". "

So, unsolved song mystery now solved, OP? What say you?

Nah, in the music video she was seen in the body bag.