Mary Magdalene (Cry Of The Banshee)

Album: Stereopticon (2014)

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about Hurricane Sandy, which devastated coastal areas in New York and New Jersey in October 2012. Klose and Lucas wrote the song with lyricist Dan Beck, a resident of Rockville Centre in Long Island, close to some very hard-hit areas. Beck says the song is about "survival and resurrection," and a reminder that many people affected by the storm were still struggling years later.

    Beck drew inspiration from the Irish enclave of Breezy Point, which was leveled by the storm. Many of the firemen were battling infernos while at the same time dealing with a flood, and many lost their own homes while trying to save others. The tragedy and absurdity of the situation led Beck to think of it like an Irish drinking song, where all you can do is drink up, say a prayer, and count your blessings.

    In our interview with Beck, he explained: "I envisioned the firemen exhausted, having a beer afterwards saying, 'We got through this.' And then I started thinking about the whole kind of Irish impact. We had friends that lived out on Long Beach who lost their home, and started thinking about how their whole thing was trying to reconstruct their home. To me it was like a resurrection, and then I thought of old biblical stories. The first witness to a resurrection was supposedly Mary Magdalene, and I thought, Here's to you and me and Mary Magdalene. And let's toast to getting through this, let's toast to our survival and resurrecting our lives."
  • A video for this song, shot in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy, was released in 2014. In 2016, the song was included on Stereopticon, which Lucas and Klose worked on for about three years.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In Songs

Sending Out An SOS - Distress Signals In SongsSong Writing

Songs where something goes horribly wrong (literally or metaphorically), and help is needed right away.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.