What's The New Mary Jane?

[semolinapilchard]

What's the New Mary Jane?
Writers: Lennon, McCartney; lead vocal: Lennon


She looks as an African Queen
She eating twelve chapattis and cream
She tastes as Mongolian lamb
She coming from Aldebaran

(In all the lyrics I've found on the web, they say "She coming from out of Behran", but if you listen close, they say Aldebaran. Now The Stones also speak of Aldebaran on 'Her Satanic Majesties Request' in the song, "2000 Light Years From Home"

Bell flight fourteen you now can land
Seen you on Aldebaran, safe on the green desert sand
It's so very lonely, you're two thousand light years from home
It's so very lonely, you're two thousand light years from home

Now interestingly enough, Aldebaran means "Follower". Here's a little bit about it...

"ALDEBARAN (Alpha Tauri). Aldebaran is by far the brightest, and therefore the Alpha, star of the constellation Taurus. The ancient name, from Arabic, means "the Follower," as the star seems to follow the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters star cluster, across the sky. Aldebaran, 60 light years away, is positioned in front of the sprawling Hyades star cluster (in mythology, half-sisters to the Pleiades) that make the face of Taurus the Bull, but is not a part of it, the cluster over twice as far away. In most renderings of the constellation, Aldebaran makes the celestial Bull's eye. As part of a constellation of the zodiac, Aldebaran is close to the Sun's path, the Sun passing to the north of it about June 1, the star also regularly covered, or occulted, by the Moon.")

Anyway, back to the song...

What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party

She like to be married with Yeti
He grooving such cooking spaghetti
She jumping as Mexican bean
To make that her body morphine
What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party

She catch Patagonian pancake
With that one and gin party makes
She having always good contact
She making with Apple and contract

(That's a weird line to me)

What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
All together now
What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what a shame what a shame what a shame
Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what a shame what a shame what a shame
Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what a shame what a shame
Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane what a shame

She looks as an African Queen

She tastes as Mongolian lamb

What a shame Mary Jane what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
All together now
What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what what a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame what a shame what a shame what a shame

[That's it.
Before we got taking no what] (cut down)



Not to mention I have a Syd Barrett bootleg I got from the '80's with this song on it labeled as "What a Shame Mary Jane". It says Syd Barrett (with The Beatles). Now this is a highly debatable topic, and I'm not sure what the truth is, all I'm saying is I got this l.p....

[byrdsmaniac]

Jeeez! Where the hell did you find this, Semolina?!
Looks a bit x-rated to be sure!
I will say this much: all those Pink Floyd songs about
"lunatics" and statements like, "Of course I'm mad; I've always been mad!" seem to be apple-ipical to Paul as
much as to Syd.

[semolinapilchard]

It's the Japanese bootleg single that came out...it'll prolly get censored soon...

[Perplexed]

And, in the very first Star Wars, which we all know was Episode #4 (!),
the evil Governor Tarkin blows up Princess Leia's home planet as she looks on in utter shock. I always thought the name of the planet was "Alderon", but, I wonder if it was really "Aldebaran" said quickly in Peter Finch's Shakespearean didacticism , or if not, was it a side reference snuck in by the clever Mr. Spielberg.

Or, even an unconscious one............just a thought.

Unconscious intellectual activity. Sometimes the best kind. Quick, somebody hit me over the head.

[TheDZ]

Well African Queen was a movie..with Kathryn Hepburn
and Humphrey Bogart.

Patagonia is in South America, (Argentina and Chile).

Yeti is Himalayan..
Wikipedia

Aldebaran in astrology

Astrologically, Aldebaran is a fortunate star, portending riches and honor. This star, named "Tascheter" by the Persians, is one of the four "royal stars" of the Persians from around 3000 BC. These stars were chosen in such way that they were approximately 6 hours apart in right ascension. To each of these stars was assigned to a season, Aldebaran was prominent in the sky of March and as such, it was associated with the vernal equinox.

seems to have a royal connotation.

Who is Mary Jane? Did she take drugs for the pain at the party?

BTW Thanks for the pic Sem, here's a linked thumbnail that's less naughty..just in case..


Go ahead, touch it..hehhe

[TotalInformation]

The gang was just hanging out making fun of their mary-jane dealer...

Linda Eastman (nee Epstein)

do u agree?

[plastic paul]

P.S Spielberg didnt do star wars!

[semolinapilchard]

Maybe Mary Jane is Paul. He had a pain at the party only to leave and meet his demise...or, maybe it has something to do with that weird notion of Paul becoming a lady.

[TheDZ]

From wikipedia

"What's The New Mary Jane?" is a song written by John Lennon and performed by The Beatles. it was recorded in 1968 for the album The White Album, but it was never used. "Whats The New Mary Jane?" is similar to Revolution 9 in many ways. It has two verses and a chorus (which is repeated about 9 or 10 times throughout the song.) and then about 4 or 5 minutes of crazy sound effects. The track ends with a comment from Lennon: "That's it! before we get taken a[way]" before the tape ends abruptly. The songs original intention other than the White Album was to be issued as a single by The Plastic Ono Band alongside You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) which was issued as the B-side of The Beatles' "Let It Be" in 1969. The song was held off another 25 years before finally being released on The Beatles' Anthology 3.

also..

my best guess as to the proper lyrics..not sure about the morphine/thin part though...

She looks as an African queen,
She eating twelve chapattis and cream,
She tastes as Mongolian lamb,
She coming from Aldebaran

What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane
What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party

She like to be married with Yeti,
He cooking such groovy spaghetti,
She jumping as Mexican bean,
To make that her body more thin (or morphine?)[deliberate?]

What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party
What a shame Mary Jane
What a shame Mary Jane had a pain at the party

She catch Patagonian pancake
With that one an gin party makes
She having all the ways good contact,
She making with apple an contract

Mary Hopkin?
Perhaps there's something in Mary Hopkin's Apple material, that John was pointing out.

TI, I'm not sure how Linda=Mary Jane makes sense to the story....
not saying you're wrong, I'm just not convinced yet.


I can see the Mary Jane = Marijuana theme as a possibility
but Linda Eastman..hmm. I dunno.
It is interesting she was born Epstein though..

Or maybe it's about Marianne Faithfull.

Also Aldebaran is approx 68 light years away, not 2000, silly Mick.

[Perplexed]

plasticpaul said:

P.S Spielberg didnt do star wars!

I hate it when I do that.

plastic, thanks for pointing it up, and thanks for doing it discreetly.

Of course I meant:"..the clever Mr. Lucas."

[plastic paul]

Lol

[TotalInformation]

I'm not convinced either... I don't know how much of this is a "story" as opposed to something just knocked off rather quickly to poke fun at someone. It doesn't seem linear.

"She like to be married with Yeti" (tall, hairy FAUL)

She did marry him about 6.5 month later ; and had been hanging out in their circle for, what 14-16 mos.?

All the African imagery, etc, does riase the kind of filthy-back-to-nature image of Linda, the one that Sister Abbey always rants about. But to be fair, I don't know how much of that was a factor in Aug68. FAUL had been to Africa at least once for surgery, but had Linda ever been?

Anyway. "She making with Apple a contract" She did play on Apple records later on... was she contracting with Apple as a photographer earlier?

"She tastes as Mongolian lamb" -- snarky comment about her personal hygeine? Linda did "get around." Even the sanitized Lifetime movie showed her with Jagger and Morrison.

[abbey]

T.I., I agree on all points. That song does sound like it's about Linda.
I read somewhere that Linda slept with John.
This was in an article concerning a book someone wrote about her, I guess.
It was just a short snippet. I wish I had kept the article.
Anyway, that would support John being able to say that about her.

[plastic paul]

Mongolian lamb?

Bill has never been far from a Sheep, Ram, Shepherd, Lamb (i can rhyme!!!!) metaphor, plus there has been, (although not agreed with by myself) thoughts that bill was dark skinned, people have said arab like, but what if he was mongul? 2+2=5 or right on the mark?

Probably the former but hey, i'm trying!!

[semolinapilchard]

So, what you're saying is that she tasted of Faul? That's funny!

[byrdsmaniac]

abbey said:

T.I., I agree on all points. That song does sound like it's about Linda.
I read somewhere that Linda slept with John.
This was in an article concerning a book someone wrote about her, I guess.
It was just a short snippet. I wish I had kept the article.
Anyway, that would support John being able to say that about her.

I believe that that is what the song "Dear Boy" on the Ram album is about; Paul tells John he missed his chance because he didn't let himself feel love for Linda.
Interesting line in the song about "When I stepped in I was down and out." Stepped in to steal Linda from John? Or stepped in to the band to replace Paul?