Songfacts®:

• This is a rap reworking of the 1967 Monkees song "Mary Mary," with completely different verse lyrics and a big change in the chorus. The original goes:
  
  Mary, Mary, where you goin' to?
  Mary, Mary, can I go too?
  
  Run-DMC made it:
  
  Mary, Mary, why you buggin?
  Mary, Mary, I need your huggin
  
  The Monkees used the song five times in their TV series, which ran from 1966-1968. Their version wasn't a big hit, so many of Run-DMC's fans didn't know about it when they released their version 21 years later.
• In the song, Mary is what Wayne and Garth would call a psycho hosebeast. Details are limited, but we learn that she went to jail and lives on the prairie. The story is secondary to the wordplay with Run-DMC's rappers (Run and DMC) showing off their microphone skills with lots of "mary" rhymes like contrary, cherry, scary and blueberry.
• Directed by Jon Small, the music video opens with a scene where Mary Mary is the leader of a group called "Women Against Rock" who are protesting a Run-DMC concert. She stops the show, but gets pulled on stage and starts having fun - she even does some crowd surfing!
  
  Mary is played by Tommy Koenig, who was in episodes of Miami Vice and Boston Legal.
• "Mary, Mary" was the second single from Run-DMC's 1988 album Tougher Than Leather, the follow-up to their 1986 groundbreaking album Raising Hell. Tougher Than Leather has the group's familiar beats and flows, but there was a lot more competition, with DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince and Tone Loc making very accessible rap music and N.W.A leading the way with gangsta rap. Run-DMC had a secure legacy by this time, but their new material didn't have as much impact. The album's first single, "Run's House," didn't chart; "Mary, Mary" stalled at #75.
• By the time Run-DMC released this song in 1988, The Monkees were reunited and back on tour. Their revival started in 1986 when MTV re-aired the TV series, introducing the group to a new audience.