Live 18 Jan 1971 version
Oh well, I got a girlfriend
Uh Mary, uh heavy Louise Watson is her name
I tell you, I got me a girlfriend
Uh heavy Louise, Mary Lou Watson is her name
Well I tell you anymore, anymore, all the time she's telling me she don't love me
But I don't care because I know she'd do just the same
Now she, she's a pretty good looking woman, she lost a little weight
You know, she been on that diet
And her best friends they don't call her heavy no more
Now they call her, her best friends they call her Lulu
Oh she's taken on some fine womanly qualities, yes she had
And her best friends, her intimate friends
They don't call her heavy no more, they call her Lulu, oh yeah
Now this woman, she may come up to you, and she may tell you that she don't
That's right, but I know she do, do, yeah
Oh I'm gonna speak to you on the subject of this lady right now
Alright, hey!
[Spoken:] Now I wanna tell you, whenever I sleep with this woman I have the strangest dreams. Now while she lost a little weight, and she thinks she did it by the grace of the Lord, so old Lulu, heavy Louise, she just, she done got herself some religion. And every night, every night before I go to bed she makes me kneel down on my knees and say my two Hail Mary's and four Our Father's. She's alright, you know, that ain't too bad. But every morning... and I- I don't go to bed early, you know, I got to bed a little late after viewing Johnny Carson or something, you know, you know. And uh, every morning at six o'clock she makes me get up and go down to that church... She won't, she won't give it, she won't love me if I don't do this, she tells me. Go down to that church and bless myself with the holy water and go in and, and take confession. Now this is every morning, she makes me do this. You know, like when I was in Catholic school I'd go once a month, or when the nuns would drag me on Friday, you know. I didn't mind that too much. But this woman makes me go every morning. She figures I got a lot of confessing to do or something. Oh I, I guess I do, you know, the way life is these days, with uh, with raw sex on Channel 13, you know, and alcohol all on the street. Now the Pandemonium shut down, she was glad about that, you know. She joined the Woman Temperance Union, you know. Yeah she's really strong on this stuff now, she certainly is. Anyway, for... and now this has been going on for two months, you know, since she brought herself down to 205. So I wanna tell you about this dream that I have when I, when I'm laying beside her and I fall off to sleep.
One more time
You know I, I dreamed I dined with the angel
I'll be damned if the Lord wasn't there too
I said I dreamed I dined with the angel, that's right
I'll be damned, goddamned if the Lord wasn't there too aitting at the head of the table
And he got to drink out of the gold cup
Me and the angels got the silver ones
Well I, I must say that, that I was surprised to see that sweet lady Mary
Oh she come all dressed in blue
Oh what a vision, oh what a vision yeah
Oh but alas I must admit I was tempted by that old man Lucifer
Alias Satan, alias the Devil came in disguise, oh yes he did
Oh I must admit I was tempted by Lucifer who came dressed in disguise
As an Egyptian princess with the biggest diamond you've ever seen
I say the biggest diamond you ever seen, right between her thighs, oh yes she did
I wanna tell you, that dream last night
Well that dream last night must've been
It must've been, I said it must've been
It must've been some kind of warning
Because I don't remember, I don't remember
I don't remember waking up this morning
And if I didn't, you people are in a lot of trouble too
Alright yeah
MARY LOUISE WATSON is a song written by Bruce Springsteen. He performed it live in 1971 with both Steel Mill and The Bruce Springsteen Band. Bootleggers have also listed the song under the title "Black Widow Spider".
According to Brucebase, MARY LOUISE WATSON was written in late 1970. No studio recording of the song is known to exist.
The above lyrics are for a live 18 Jan 1971 performance of MARY LOUISE WATSON at D'Scene in South Amboy, NJ, with Steel Mill.
This was a double-bill show with Steel Mill headlining and Godzilla opening. A very good soundboard recording of the show is in circulation among collectors and is believed to be the entire Steel Mill performance.
MARY LOUISE WATSON is known to have been performed at least twice in Bruce Springsteen's early years (pre-October 1972). Very little is known about shows from this early period, and therefore, the song must have been played on some more dates in 1971 and also possibly in 1970 and 1972. The song was played in a full-band arrangement.
As far as it's known, no artist has recorded and released Bruce Springsteen's MARY LOUISE WATSON.
Much of the above information about the 18 Jan 1971 show is taken from Brucebase.
If you have any additional information about this song, or any corrections to the above lyrics, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of MARY LOUISE WATSON on this website:
MARY LOUISE WATSON [Live 18 Jan 1971 version]