Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen
Producer: John Hammond
[Chorus]
Mary, Queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and this bastard's love is redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
And you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
[Verse]
Well, I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a change man at your laundromat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing
[Verse]
The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I wasn't born to live to die, and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late, we can still infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'
[Chorus]
Well, Mary, Queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait but you know you can't keep me from leavin'
'Cause on your bed, Mary, I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so loose
[Outro]
And I know a place where we can go, Mary
Where I can get a good job and start out all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico
Where the servants have been seen
Mary, Queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and this bastard's love is redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
And you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
[Verse]
Well, I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a change man at your laundromat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing
[Verse]
The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I wasn't born to live to die, and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late, we can still infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'
[Chorus]
Well, Mary, Queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait but you know you can't keep me from leavin'
'Cause on your bed, Mary, I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so loose
[Outro]
And I know a place where we can go, Mary
Where I can get a good job and start out all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico
Where the servants have been seen
Tracks
- Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Demo)
- Santa Ana
- Lucky Man
- Happy
- Man at the Top
- Johnny Bye-Bye
- I Wanna Be with You
- Goin’ Cali
- Living on the Edge of the World
- TV Movie
- Be True
- Frankie
- Seven Angels
- Janey Don’t You Lose Heart
- Linda Let Me Be the One
- Brothers Under the Bridge
- Where the Bands Are
- The Honeymooners
- Growin’ Up (Demo)
- It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City (Demo)
- Mary Queen of Arkansas (Demo)
- Born in the U.S.A. (Demo)
- Stolen Car (Tracks Version)
- Roulette
- Cynthia
- Part Man, Part Monkey
- When You Need Me
- Hearts of Stone
- Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own
- Don’t Look Back
- Mary Lou
- Brothers Under the Bridges (’83)
- Loose Ends
- Restless Nights
- When the Lights Go Out
- Over the Rise
- Give the Girl a Kiss
- Bring on the Night
- Rockaway the Days
- Dollhouse
- My Lover Man
- Iceman
- Zero and Blind Terry
- Seaside Bar Song
- Sad Eyes
- Rendezvous (live)
- Lion’s Den
- Thundercrack
- Shut Out the Light
- A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh)
- Stand on It
- Bishop Danced
- Take ’Em as They Come
- The Wish
- This Hard Land
- Leavin’ Train
- Wages of Sin
- Car Wash
- Loose Change
- Gave It A Name
- Trouble in Paradise
- My Love Will Not Let You Down
- So Young and in Love
- Two for the Road
- Back in Your Arms
- Pink Cadillac
- Tracks (1998)
- Born in the U.S.A.
- Born to Run
- Dancing in the Dark
- I’m On Fire
- Thunder Road
- Blinded by the Light
- The River
- Atlantic City
- Hungry Heart
- Jungleland
- Glory Days
- Badlands
- My Hometown
- Streets of Philadelphia
- Backstreets
- The Ghost of Tom Joad
- Tenth Avenue Freeze Out
- Secret Garden
- Racing in the Street
- Nebraska
- I’m Goin’ Down
- Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
- Growin’ Up
- The Rising