"Mary Don't You Weep” is a Spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War – thus it is what scholars call a "slave song," "a label that describes their origins among the enslaved," and it contains "coded messages of hope and resistance.” It is one of the most important of the Spirituals.
The song tells the Biblical story of Mary of Bethany and her distraught pleas to Jesus to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. Other narratives relate to The Exodus and the Passage of the Red Sea, with the chorus proclaiming 'Pharaoh's army got drown-ded', and to God's rainbow covenant to Noah after the Great Flood. With liberation thus one of its themes, the song again become popular during the Civil Rights Movement.
"Mary Don't You Weep"
Oh Oh Mary
Oh Oh Mary
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Well, Satan got mad and he knows I'm glad.
Missed that soul that he thought he had.
Now, didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Well, one of these nights around twelve o'clock,
This old town's gonna really rock.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Cheer up, sisters and don't you cry.
There'll be good times bye and bye.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh Oh Mary
Oh Oh Mary
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Well, Satan got mad and he knows I'm glad.
Missed that soul that he thought he had.
Now, didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Well, one of these nights around twelve o'clock,
This old town's gonna really rock.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Cheer up, sisters and don't you cry.
There'll be good times bye and bye.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Oh, Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn.
Didn't Pharaoh's army get drowned?
Oh, Mary, don't you weep.
