Songfacts®:

• You probably know this, but "mary jane" is a euphemism for marijuana ("Juana" is the Spanish name for "Jane," thus Mari+Juana = Mary+Jane). "Mary Jane" by The Vines is one of several songs that celebrate smoking pot by imagining it as a girl named Mary Jane. The most famous of these is by Rick James, who really loved his Mary Jane.
• "Mary Jane" is part of the debut album for The Vines, Highly Evolved. The band is Australian, led by the very unpredictable Craig Nicholls, who writes the songs. Nicholls smoked a lot of pot around this time and made that very clear, often showing up stoned for interviews.
  
  The album was hailed in press and earned The Vines the covers of both NME and Rolling Stone. This passage from the Rolling Stone story will give you an idea of Nicholls' relationship with pot:
  
  "Maybe, just maybe, his demeanor has to do with the fact that he smokes an ungodly amount of pot. Nicholls carries his own bong around all day, wrapped in a plastic bag. He constantly packs the bong, lights up and slurps away. Forgetting his manners, he neglects to offer any to the hard-working journalist in the room."
• The Vines made their mark with blistering rock songs that were over in a blink, most famously "Get Free," a driving rocker that lasts a little over two minutes. "Mary Jane" is much more leisurely, in line with the subject matter. It's almost six-minutes long, with psychedelic vibes. It's a good listen when sparking one up... we've heard.
• Craig Nicholls later decided that the mary jane was making him crazy and agitated, the opposite of its intent. He dropped the habit in 2004 and was later diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which explained much of his erratic behavior and why pot didn't have the same effect on him than it does on most people.