The Kindness of Strangers

Nick Cave and the bad seeds

They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed
 With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
 O poor Mary Bellows
 She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor
 She left her home in Arkansas
 O poor Mary Bellows
 She wanted to see the deep blue sea
 She travelled across Tennessee
 O poor Mary Bellows
 She met a man along the way
 He introduced himself as Richard Slade
 O poor Mary Bellows
 Poor Mary thought that she might die


When she saw the ocean for the first time
 O poor Mary Bellows
 She checked into a cheap little place
 Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase
 O poor Mary Bellows
 "I'm a good girl, sir", she said to him
 I couldn't possibly permit you in
 O poor Mary Bellows
 Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye
 And turned away without goodbye
 O poor Mary Bellows
 She sat on her bed and thought of home
 With the sea breeze whistling all alone
 O poor Mary Bellows
 In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor
 And undid the latch on the front door
 O poor Mary Bellows
 They found her the next day cuffed to the bed
 A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
 O poor Mary Bellows
 So mothers keep your girls at home
 Don't let them journey all alone
 Tell them this world is full of danger
 And to shun the company of strangers
 O poor Mary Bellows
 O poor Mary Bellows