The name seems to be uttered from the soul, a guttural purge of emotional discord.
asserted
name → seem → discord
Sometimes soft, often violent, her name can be howled either side of praising, or cursing, the heavens above.
asserted
name → howl → heavens
She's been screamed at during the 2000s alternative music fortification, made occasionally decipherable in the 2010s mumble-rap travesty, autotuned into shape by today's producer-smeared factory trash.
asserted
She → scream → trash
For me, she's been a regular visitor in Jimi Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary, Supergrass's dark and dangerous Mary, or Sparkadia's angst-driven song of the same name.
asserted
Wind → cry → name
Regardless of your musical tastes, Mary's been there, featured in more music than any other woman.
asserted
Mary → feature → woman
But who is she, and why are so many singers apparently obsessed?
asserted
singers → obsess → ?
Starting with the obvious, Mary gave birth to the most influential of rebels.
asserted
Mary → start → rebels
He gathered together a small group from Galilee, which was in many ways subversive of the prevailing culture, and especially Roman rule," independent scholar and social commentator Steven Ogden said.
asserted
Ogden → gather → culture
"He had followers, and women followers, and it looks like Mary, his mother, and [follower] Mary Magdalene, were part of that group."
According to the gospels, Dr Ogden said, both Marys were by Christ's side right up to his crucifixion, and were also joined at that moment by yet another Mary, the wife of Clopas.
But
uncertain
Marys → have → Clopas
the idea of Christ evolved, in the second and third centuries, into him being the son of God, so too did the argument that his birth had to be divine.
asserted
birth → evolve → God
Subsequently, Mary was increasingly venerated and sung about.
asserted
Mary → venerate → ?
Dr Ogden said there also emerged "a gradual suspicion of the human body" among Gnostic groups.
asserted
Ogden → say → groups
The early church subsequently wanted to distance Christ from any "possibility of pollution", which reinforced that he had special or divine origins.
asserted
he → want → origins
From the 11th century, so-called Marian music grew more prominent, surging with the 1400s Renaissance era that gave rise to vocal polyphony and printed music, and then Baroque from the 1600s, with the emergence of large orchestras and counterpoint composition.
asserted
that → call → orchestras
Mary was the subject of works from Bach in that era to Schubert in the late Classical and early Romantic periods, and attracted her own "liturgical and spiritual focus" to the point that it created debate and argument about just how high her status should be in religious doctrines.
"
asserted
status → attract → doctrines
Some people within the Catholic and Anglican traditions would treat Mary almost as a divine figure, but others wouldn't," Dr Ogden said.
asserted
Ogden → treat → figure
Mary Magdalene was also the subject of music, notably in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1970 Jesus Christ Superstar, in which lyricist Tim Rice took the often contested view that she was a prostitute before following Christ.
asserted
she → take → Christ
Accurate or otherwise, the idea of a person with a troubled past finding grace added to the intrigue.
A common name
Elder Conservatorium of Music Associate Professor Paul Watt said another reason Mary featured so prominently in music was because it was the most common name for a woman in the 19th century.
asserted
it → find → century
This was particularly useful in the men-only, high-society supper clubs of the era, in which songs were performed that were not always appropriate for minors.
asserted
that → perform → minors
"If you're singing about Mary, it could mean anybody and so you don't then single out any particular woman," Dr Watt said.
uncertain
Watt → sing → woman
"I mean, the libel laws weren't very strong in the 19th century, but anyone could sing about Mary and no-one would know who it was, so it was an easy cover.
uncertain
it → mean → Mary
He said there could also have been a little anti-Roman Catholic sentiment in the mix, or "fun pokery, as it were", especially in Protestant England where there were restrictions on Roman Catholicism and a general rejection of Marian dogma.
uncertain
it → say → dogma
Interestingly, Dr Watt said, Mary did not feature strongly in England's notorious Bawdy Songbooks of the 1830s to '40s, which featured "revolting" and "sexually explicit material" printed in illicit pocket books.
asserted
which → say → books
What struck Dr Watt, however, was the prevalence of other female names in the lyrics that, like Mary, had two syllables.
"There are some that are three syllables, of course, but I wonder if Mary being two syllables is just easy to set music to, rather than three,"he said.
asserted
three,"he → strike → music
He pointed out that the word Mary typically fell an interval to its second syllable when vocalised, adding to its sing-ability.
asserted
word → point → ability
"There's a probably a diphthong on the 'a' in some accents too," Dr Watt said.
asserted
Watt → be → accents
A diphthong is a combined, or gliding, vowel sound.
asserted
diphthong → glide → ?
In Mary's case, it's the "ea" diphthong in "M-a-ry", which makes it an easy and strong name to sing in a variety of settings.
asserted
it → make → settings
This includes amplified, modern music in which a singer may howl Mary in a narrative that has no obvious religious connection.
uncertain
that → include → connection
According to a fan website interview with Supergrass singer Gaz Coombes, they used the name Mary following a band exercise that included creating psychological insults to imaginary people that would freak out a would-be psychiatrist.
uncertain
that → accord → psychiatrist
Sparkadia's lead singer Alex Burnett also reportedly used the name to reflect a fictional woman in his anguished song, Mary.
uncertain
singer → use → song
Jimi Hendrix' The Wind Cries Mary was reportedly an apology to his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham, after an argument that started over mashed potatoes — although some lyrics were reportedly borrowed from a poem he'd written to a previous girlfriend.
uncertain
he → cry → girlfriend
"Maybe the figure has become stereotyped as like a femme fatale, or it's just convenient," Dr Watt said.
asserted
Watt → stereotype → fatale
Monash University Literary Studies senior lecturer Chris Murray said there was truth about Mary being an "easy rhyme", but he believed the religious aspect behind it was "very important".
asserted
aspect → say → it
"And add simply the fact of Mary becoming such a common name in Anglophone culture that it could mean an every-woman figure as much as it could the mother of God,"he said.
uncertain
it → add → God,"he
Dr Murray said he had recently been keen on the Beatles song, Let it Be, which he interpreted as referencing the "consoling blessed virgin", the "compassionate mother figure".
asserted
he → say → virgin
"The Beatles had been on such a spiritual odyssey that it's striking they'd end up where two of them started: Irish Catholic Marianism," he said, referring to George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
asserted
he → end → Harrison
Dr Murray also pointed out that in the mid-20th century, "the Vatican became wary of the Marian cult, so Marianism could be seen as weirdly countercultural from that time on, with Ireland as an outlier".
uncertain
Ireland → point → outlier
Dr Ogden said Mary represented a counter to aspects of the Western Christian church, which for centuries was "very strongly masculine and patriarchal", and included "popes and bishops who emulated kings".
asserted
who → say → kings
"There are lots of good people in the church, but the hierarchy is often the source of the misuse of power and authority,"he said.
asserted
hierarchy → be → power
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia