Album: Aqualung (1971)

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• Who would be a poor man, a beggar-man, a thief
  If he had a rich man in his hand?
  And who would steal the candy
  From a laughing baby's mouth
  If he could take it from the money man
  Cross-eyed Mary goes jumping in again
  She signs no contract but she always plays the game
  She dines in Hampstead village on expense accounted gruel
  And the jack-knife barber, drops her off at school
  
  Laughing in the playground, gets no kicks from little boys
  Would rather make it with a letching grey
  Or maybe her attention is drawn by Aqualung
  Who watches through the railings as they play, hey
  Cross-eyed Mary finds it hard to get along
  She's a poor man's rich girl and she'll do it for a song
  She's a rich man stealer but her favor's good and strong
  She's the Robin Hood of Highgate, helps the poor man get along, hey
  
  Laughing in the playground, gets no kicks from little boys
  Would rather make it with a letching grey
  Or maybe her attention is drawn by Aqualung
  Who watches through the railings as they play, hey
  Cross-eyed Mary goes jumping in again
  She signs no contract but she always plays the game
  She dines in Hampstead village on expense accounted gruel
  And the jack-knife barber, drops her off at school, hey
  
  Cross-eyed Mary
  Oh Mary, oh cross-eyed Mary Writer/s: Ian Anderson
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

• Filthy Sanchez from CincinnatiBruce Dickinson should be ashamed of himself. I recently attempted to listen to that horrible cover of one of the greatest classic rock songs and I think it gave brain cancer. Damn high voice bastard!
• George from From Ma@ Paul Santo from NY: Thanks so much for your comment! I can't believe I hadn't heard Wond'ring Aloud Again until now! Ian Anderson is one of the greatest composers & musicians ever. I knew it'd be worth listening to, but I didn't expect this masterpiece! One of the attributes of this great man is his ability to juxtapose stark contrast between opposing characters in song. Perhaps most importantly, reminding us that, regardless how awful or unpleasant a person seems to to be, they're still human beings. He's not one to shirk away from expressing themes of life as they are; be it in all their overwhelming beauty & magnificence, or in their unfathomable terrible ugliness or sadness.
• Paul Santo from NyThe 40th Anniversary Version of Aqualung just came out. And all one has to do to understand Cross Eyed Mary or Ian's ideology is listen to track 19. Wond'ring Aloud (Full Morgan Version). It's a Studio outtake of a very long version of the song. It explains everything that Ian Anderson was thinking about when that Album was written. It Explains Everything.
• Jeff from Nclove the connection between the school girl Mary and her attraction to older men, couldn't play music like this now days, just goes to show older eras were more progressive and open minded to art then todays artists, today it is all whining about justice and give me mine. whatever, the world continues to slide into ignorance.
• Roger from Twin Cities, Mn, UsaAnd yet, here I am, Philip. I also like Marvin Gaye. Also Jackson Browne. Also Buck Owens.
  
  Eclectic is a thing.
• Dante from Milwaukee, WiInterperet it however you want, Paul. What it says here is just what Ian's idea was.
• Paul from Herne, GermanyI really don't know why but I always thought the song was about a little ugly girl that steals money from her rich parents to give it to the poor children.
  But good to know I was wrong, thanks for the entry.
• Darren from Winnipeg, MbI thought the line with Aqualung in it referred to her realizing her life could go nowhere, ending up homeless like him.
• Philip from Akron, OhSo what does "People who dig this song..." mean? It's hard to believe "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "Orinoco Flow" play to the same crowd.
• Carrie from , MiCross-eyed Mary is a young prostitute who has sex with dirty old men (the line "gets no kicks from little boys...would rather make it with a letching grey" attests to the fact that she has to take her money from wherever it comes--most often older men who pay for her services.
  The jack-knife barber is either an abortionist or Mary's pimp. The line "she'll do it for a song" makes is sound like Mary keeps her price low, thus helping the "poor man get along"
• Jean Paul from Santiago, South AmericaIron Maiden did a cover of this song. It's on their Trooper single.

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