what does the song Mary on a Cross mean

MEANING BEHIND GHOST’S MARY ON THE CROSS SONG

Ever wondered what the song Mary on the cross by Ghost meant? Well this article is about the song, public reaction and all that it entails so just read on.

WHO IS GHOST

Ghost is a Swedish rock band that was formed in Linköping in 2006. In 2010, they released a three-track demo followed by a 7-inch vinyl titled “Elizabeth”, and later their debut full-length album Opus Eponymous. Ghost was formed in 2006, when future band leader Tobias Forge wrote the song “Stand by Him”, he said ” this is probably the heaviest metal riff that has ever existed… When the chorus came to me, it haunted my dreams. Every time I picked up the guitar, I ended up playing that progression, and when I fit the words in, it seemed to cry out for a Satanically-oriented lyric.” Forge then contacted his former Repugnant bandmate Gustaf Lindström to record the song.

In early 2008, the two entered the studio to record three songs: “Stand by Him,” “Prime Mover” and “Death Knell”. Afterwards Forge remarked to Lindström: “This definitely does not sound like two dudes that look like you and I”. Forge went ahead on deciding to be an anonymous “theater band” and use their love of horror films and “the traditions of Scandinavian metal” in the band’s imagery. The band was made up of eight members with six wearing black hooded robes and being called “Nameless Ghouls”, Forge would go by “Papa Emeritus”, dressed in Papal regalia and his face painted to resemble a skull. Forge then chose the name Ghost for the group. Initially Forge had no aspirations on becoming the band’s vocalist, instead wanting to play guitar. The band did go ahead to win number of awards even the Grammy for best metal performance.

WHEN WAS THE SONG RELEASED

The song Mary on the cross was released on September 13, 2019 by the band Ghost is the second song on Ghost’s “re-release” EP from the late ’60s, Seven Inches of Satanic Panic. It was produced by Gene Walker & Tobias Forge. It has amassed a number of views. It entered billboard Hot 100 when it went viral on TikTok. The original single has now debuted at Number 90 in the latest Hot 100 update. Billboard Hot 100 registered six million US streams and 1,000 downloads between September 9-15. The song also entered the UK Top 40 singles chart in August for the first time through the Official Charts Company. It is the first Ghost track to achieve the feat, landing at Number 28.

THE SONG LYRICS

Below is the lyrics to the song “Mary on a cross”

We were speeding together
Down the dark avenues
But besides all the stardom
All we got was blues

But through all the sorrow
We were riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I never let you go, let you go

We were scanning the cities
Walking to greater dues
But besides all the glamour
All we got was bruised

But through all the sorrow
We were riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I had to let you go, let you go

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Not just another Bloody Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross

If you choose to run away with me
I will tickle you internally
And I see nothing wrong with that

We were searching for reasons
To play by the rules
But we quickly found
It was just for fools

And after all the sorrow
We’ll be riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I’ll never let you go, let you go

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Not just another Bloody Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Your beauty never ever scared me
Mary on a, Mary on a cross

If you choose to run away with me
I will tickle you internally
And I see nothing wrong with that

Nothing wrong with that
(Mary on a, Mary on a cross)
Nothing wrong with that
(Mary on a, Mary on a cross)

Mary on a, Mary on a cross

MEANING OF THE SONG

Speaking to Mastodon’s Brann Dailor on a livestream, the singer explained: “There are multiple layers in the lyrics that it might be important for people to understand. The chorus is written very tongue in cheek of course. ‘Go down’ doesn’t necessarily mean as in a 69 sense of the word… it can also mean go down as in go down in history, your own ascent.

“Mary doesn’t necessarily mean Mary, mother of Jesus,” he continued. “It might mean Mary Magdalene, the proclaimed whore who might have been the wife of Jesus – just as a symbol for someone who came off as one thing but actually had other intentions and did something else. Someone who’s miscredited.”

He went to reveal that the song was “more about friendship and how, together with someone else, you might have been something at one point and then you ended up just not being like that. Forge also archly pointed out that his stage name in pre-Ghost death metal band Repugnant was Mary Goore (actually a play on late guitar hero Gary Moore). “So it has very little to do with the mother of Jesus, because I don’t want anyone to believe that she was not a virgin,” he added on. Despite its status as a lowly b-side, Mary On A Cross instantly became a fixture in Ghost’s live set. As it was TikTok that amplified the song’s profile, he admitted that he never imagined that ever happening. “I think it was my daughter who spotted it first,” Forge told Metal Hammer. “She said, ‘I heard Mary On A Cross on TikTok.’ She’s done that before with other songs. Then I was summoned to a label meeting and they were like, ‘Are you aware of what’s going on?’, and they started presenting stats.”

WHY THE SONG TRENDED

One of the reasons the song trended was when a user on TikTok made a slower version of the song and added it to a stranger thing video this caught fans of the series attention and they went ahead to make various videos like that not really related but something similar. If you search o TikTok “Mary on a cross” it will show you videos made with this song. It had garnered over 300 000 TikTok videos and also the hashtag #maryonthecross has roughly 800 million views at the time of this article being written. Although fans of the band were not too happy on how the song was used for a totally different purpose than what they thought it should have been used for.

PUBLIC REACTIONS TO THE SONG

Although the song was successful after being introduced on TikTok it did bring with it some bad reactions from people as many reacted to it being kind of blasphemous and satanic. One user by name “_with_Jesus” did stand out stating the song as being horrible and disrespectful to the beauty of Christianity as a whole. He also went ahead to outline and explain the lyrics giving meaning line by line, claiming the intention Ghost trying to sexualize Christianity with sexual imagery counting if it was being really about Mary or not was more important than that, naming it a “perverted mockery of the Christian faith”.

Given that Forge had built Ghost on precisely that kind of anti-religious provocation, it’s likely that he knew exactly what response Mary On A Cross would prompt. Speaking on Cutter’s RockCast, the singer said the song’s viral success acted as a gateway for people who wanted to go deeper into the band’s world. “If you’re not revolted by the song and you want to cancel whoever wrote it,” he said. “Because that’s the backside of it, people hearing it and finding it deeply offensive and this and that because they didn’t have the brain capacity to realise what it’s about.”

Ultimately, the success of Mary On A Cross put Ghost in front of millions of unsuspecting souls who would probably never have heard them before. “We attracted so many new people who got sucked into this and fell into the rabbit hole of everything that we created,” he told Metal Hammer. “And that’s a great thing because you always need more people.” We only hope we are safe no mater what happens