About That Song: Mary Bue
About That Song #37
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
In the 37th edition of this series, I had the immense pleasure of connecting with Mary Bue, a Minnesota singer-songwriter I admire a ton! We talked about songs that rocked her world, artistically speaking, and some big shows she’s got coming up this spring.
Mary Bue. Photo credit: Ilia Stockert.
Sarah: Hi MARY BUE! Ahh! Years ago, I was set up on a blind show date with you at the Aster Cafe on a Sunday night. I remember how completely in awe I was of your performance that night. Your songwriting, and the way you offered yourself to the audience, moved and inspired the heck out of me. I’ve been a giant fan ever since! And as a giant fan, I’m so thrilled to know you have new music coming out this year. I’m wondering if you’d be willing to talk to us a bit about the songs that have brought you to this moment in your journey?
Mary: Yes please! Honored and delighted and adore you, Sarah!
Sarah: Well, it goes both ways! Do you remember the song that you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
Mary: Beautiful question to think about! I was in 8th grade (1994) and already loving music, spending my allowance on CDs (or was it Columbia House??), and had a moment where my heart blew open listening to a song: Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should Have Come Over.” It was after my uncle’s wedding in DC. I was in a hotel room alone—having introvertedly ducked out of the reception—sitting on top of the desk by the window with headphones on, watching the rain pouring on the city streets and the people … Although that is NOT the song that made me want to be a songwriter, that’s the one that blew my heart open.
Sarah: That feels like a perfect scene to be in Mary Bue: The Movie someday! (Also, Columbia House 4Ever!)
Mary: I started dabbling with a friend’s band (nothing happened) and writing lots of adolescent poetry … but it wasn’t until a few years later when I fell in love with Tori Amos’s Boys for Pele album (1996) and the third song “Father Lucifer” would be the one. It paints a picture of the mythical Lucifer, perhaps longing for love, “preferring the drizzle to the rain.”
I later heard Tori speak about going to the Amazon, and experiencing an ayahuasca plant medicine ceremony with a shaman (all the rage in the USA these days, but this was the late 90s), and meeting Lucifer in a vision and he was “just really sad.” I love how she has lyrical undercurrents swirling around the main melody, and weaves in her visions and religion and myth and story. Tori is a true inspiration—drawing from the great void of creative potential and possibility.
Sarah: Oh, Tori! That’s such a big story to be able to contain in a single song. I’m curious—once you began writing, did you feel like a writer immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about that song.
Mary: Wow, I don’t think I dubbed myself a “songwriter” until many years into it. I legit started writing at 16-17-18 years old and wrote most of the songs for my first album during that time—then released it when I was 19 (2000). Super stream of consciousness, ethereal, raw, very similar vibe to each song. I guess the song that made me feel like a true “songwriter” is called “Song For Holly” from my third album East to the Sea. “Song For Holly” is an ode to the beauty, magic and power of the divine feminine, “from galaxy to dish rag.”
It was inspired by a barista I knew at Amazing Grace Cafe where I worked in my early 20s and cut my teeth as a budding musician at their open mics. Holly felt intimidating to me as well as beloved and empowered …. She gave me a copy of the Bhagavad Gita—how did she know I would later journey multiple times to India?? (She moved to Alaska and never returned as far as I know.) The song goes from there and weaves in Greek and Roman goddesses, fierce and sacred sexuality, embodiment, strength. But I didn’t know that song held all that at the time. Looking back, little 20-year-old Mary wasn’t as insecure and naive as she felt.
Mary Bue. Photo credit: Sarah Brokke.
Sarah: Amazing Grace Cafe! I had the chance to sing there once, and it had such a vibe. I love knowing that you were part of it—even though I didn’t know you at the time! And Holly giving you the Bhagavad Gita—that’s a bit of a “about that book” moment perhaps?
I have this very clear memory of seeing you sing your song “Beeswax” live and just being blown away by the way you marry catchy pop melody with lyrical imagery that feels to me “distinctly Mary Bue.” A heart wrapped up in beeswax … can you tell us about that song?
Mary: You are too kind! I’m so glad you like Beeswax—THANK YOU!
This is one of my favorite song stories. In 2006 I was awarded an Artist in Residency at the Escape 2 Create program at the Seaside Institute in Seaside, Florida (the town where the movie The Truman Show was filmed—it’s a real place!). Ten artists got their own beautiful cottage by the sea and had a month to create, and every week we’d meet for dinner and at the end share our project.
I met an incredible installation artist named Leslie Iwai. She shared a previous project with me called Chambers: Gleaning in Cracks of Light—a very multifaceted work. From what I remember, these were the steps: She invited people to post anonymous confessions on a website. She then took the confessions and transcribed them onto rose petals, one word per petal. She crafted 900 ceramic doves that were hollow and filled the doves with the rose petal confessions. The art gallery space was a long hallway, which was lit from below. She filled the hallway with the doves, glowing with the rose petal confessions.
Then, she held public ceremonies where people threw the doves out the window and smashed them! She received with her arms open and, when finished, gathered the broken pieces on a funeral pyre and hauled them home. She bundled the broken pieces in cheesecloth, dipped in red colored beeswax, and sculpted them into the shape of human hearts.
Sarah: My jaw just about hit the floor hearing this story. That sounds like an incredible artistic project. The dedication required to each layer of experience, which would then be somewhat invisible to the eye in the final sculpture. Wow.
Mary: I sing: “My heart is twisted, feels like it’s pounding right out of my chest, fried up and crispy, and she’s got them wrapped up in beeswax.” Artists inspire other artists. 108%. Go see Leslie’s work in Madison or anywhere. She’s fantastic. And her work inspired that song story in a deep way. Of course it’s about many other things, but her healing work is in there!
Sarah: Thank you for sharing that story, and for tipping us in Leslie’s direction.
You’ve got a new album in the works! YAY! Was there a particular song (or songs) that gave you that “time to make an album” feeling?
Mary: It’s kind of crazy—the title of the album came first, even before the title track was written! I waited soooo long for the title track to come. The album is called The Wildness of Living and Dying. (Not “Wilderness”—that is a mouthful! Not that the title isn’t, lol). Following up The World Is Your Lover which came out in 2020 when the World was a most challenging and devastating Lover on a global scale, of course this new album was born in the pandemic. While it doesn’t directly speak to the pandemic, it does speak to the trauma so many of us—dare I say all of us?—experienced. Whole lotta trauma songs, snuck into happy-sounding tunes.
I also had a giant traumatic experience, a violent carjacking that almost killed me and shattered my trust in humanity for a while—but the song that really made me want to make this album is called “Right Now.” It’s partially thanks to Jeremy Ylvisaker whom I have the VAST privilege of making music with. He half-jokingly said once—or maybe not jokingly at all?—“Mary, why don’t you try writing a song with only one chord for once?” This one ended up having three chords, but it is almost spoken-word in quality, my take on a “New York Minute” where right now there is literally everything under the sun happening—birth, death, fucking, violence, laughter, crying, decay, brilliance, growth …
right now the earth is radiating beauty
right now someone walks in jaw-dropping splendor
right now someone’s digging a grave and throwing in flowers
right now new lovers make love before work …
and it goes on to say …
the funeral pyres will never be empty
the Ganga flows on past sheets drying on the ghats
the hospital beds revolving so quickly
with accidents illnesses ailments and deaths
the spruce and the juniper fragrant the forest
right now the marigolds stand neon before the frost
standing alone on the infinite ocean
right now the seashells compress into sand …
It ends with a mantra, coming from the forest, which beckons your silence, to: “stand alone amongst the tall pines” (repeated about 50 times to a wail).
Whew! That was the song that needed to make a new album! Great question!! I truly can’t wait for it to come out. Created by the same team as The World—Steve Price producing and playing bass, Jeremy Ylvisaker on guitar, Richard Medek on drums, Shannon Frid-Rubin on violin, and Julia Floberg on cello. Dream team, wow!
Mary Bue. Photo credit: Ilia Stockert.
Sarah: You do have a dream team! I cannot wait to hear this song, and this album! Also, I’ve received similar challenges before—“Sarah! Just write a song with two chords and no bridge”—I’ve gotten close, but not quite there. The aiming though has still been fruitful!
Your current single is a fantastic cover of Tom Petty’s song “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which he and Stevie Nicks recorded as a duet. Can you tell us about that song?
Mary: One friend told me, “You should meet Jon Herchert.” Another friend (in a different circle) told Jonny, “You should meet Mary Bue.” So, we met and we pretty much haven’t stopped talking for some months now. Except now I’m in Bali, so that complicates the conversation because it’s 14 hours ahead! HA! We have a lot to talk about, and especially about music.
Jonny’s a super talented producer, recording engineer, and musician (Dark Pony, Mango Jam, MN’s Last Waltz), and we both love Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac. I half-jokingly threw this cover idea out to him as it seemed apropos for a few things going on, and when I was heading up to Duluth to host a weekend yoga training on Nada Yoga (the Yoga of Sound), my car loaded up with my sitar and harmonium and a million other instruments, we started working on the song on a whim.
It’s been shaped over the course of a month in Jan/Feb at his rad studio on a tiny island in the Mississippi. He added guitars, percussion and production mojo; I added some rhodes, harmonium, and sitar (first time recording it!), and we both tried our voices on that famous duet. I pushed to get it out before the Fleetwood Mac Tribute that Zachary Scot Johnson hosted in February and we got it out right in time. I’m super proud of it—it’s very mystical and one-of-a-kind … and I hope Stevie and Tom like it, too (Rest in Power, Tom). This song won’t be on my album, however; it stands up alone—a musical offering for this weird time, and looking forward to more songs to come with Jonny.
Sarah: I appreciate so much how many little cosmic moments you’ve been willing to share with us! About That Song, and About Those People who led to a song, a recording, a book. I know that you have been one of those sparks for so many other humans. Do you have any Midwest shows coming up in the next few months where we might hear you sing that song, or any other song for that matter?
Mary: Yes! A big one, full band, strings and all, at Icehouse on May 17th in Minneapolis with Molly Maher and the Gilded Quadriga & Dandy L. Frehling. This is a “New Album Preview” where we will be performing all the songs off the new record—alas the record will not be out yet, but hoping to grow the stoke!
Also doing a songwriters in-the-round in Wyoming, MN at Hallberg Center for the Arts on April 25th.
Tentatively the full band is heading to Superior, WI to play May 9th at the Cedar Loung—fingers crossed! And I’m working on house shows and summer bookings if anyone out there would like to connect on that!
Sarah: Wonderful! Wishing you a fantastic season of shows, and we will all look forward to hearing The Wildness of Living and Dying.
See Mary Bue play at Icehouse on May 17th and at Hallberg Center for the Arts on April 25th!
Listen to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”
“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” Single Credits
By Tom Petty and Mike Campbell
Copyright Gone Gator Music and Wild Gator Music
Licensed # 2390435
Produced, recorded, and engineered by Jon Herchert
Mastered by Rob Genadek
Mary Bue: vocals, rhodes, harmonium, sitar (marybue.com)
Jonny Herchert/Dark Pony: vocals, guitars, synth, percussion (www.decknight.com/dark-pony)
Released by Deck Night (www.decknight.com)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
