Songfacts®:

• This song is Rick James' thinly veiled ode to marijuana, which is known as "mary jane" (Juana is the Spanish name for Jane, thus "mari-juana" is "mary jane"). There are no obvert drug references in the song, but James made it very obvious what it's about; he openly discussed his love for weed and would spark one up on stage when he could get away with it. Also, he called his band "The Stone City Band."
• "Mary Jane" was Rick James' second single, following "You And I." Both songs are from his debut album, Come Get It!, released in 1978. "You And I" was a #1 R&B hit and went to #13 on the Hot 100. Radio stations shied away from "Mary Jane," but it still went to #41.
  
  James was 34 when the album was released but had been in bands since he was a teenager, including one with Neil Young in the '60s called The Mynah Birds. He signed with Motown Records in 1977 and led the post-disco charge into funk. His most popular songs came in the early '80s with "Super Freak" and "Cold Blooded."
• In the '80s, Rick James put together a girl group he called the Mary Jane Girls, again employing his favorite term for marijuana. They had a hit in 1985 with "In My House."
• Many musicians smoked pot in the '70s but most of them wouldn't admit it because it was illegal and would tarnish their images if word got out that they indulged. But Rick James didn't care. In fact, he was very open about it. In a 1979 interview with Blues & Soul, he said: "I love marijuana - Mary Jane - and you can print that! I smoke it every day and it's the greatest thing since ice cream and I'm not afraid to say it."
• The name Mary Jane has showed up in other songs, notably "Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, which may or may not be about the drug. The Vines released a song called "Mary Jane" in 2002 that most certainly is. Another famous song that could plausibly be about a girl but is really about pot is "Brown Sugar," a 1995 hit for D'Angelo.
• When hip-hop emerged in the '80s and '90s, "Mary Jane" became a popular sample for songs about smoking pot, a common topic for many rappers. Examples include "Smoke Buddah" by Redman (1996) and "(I'm in Love With) Mary Jane" by Coolio.