The Kindness Of Strangers Lyrics - Nick Cave & The Bad Seed

They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed 

With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head 

O poor Mary Bellows 

She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor 

She left her home in Arkansas 

O poor Mary Bellows 

She wanted to see the deep blue sea 

She traveled across Tennessee 

O poor Mary Bellows 

She met a man along the way 

He introduced himself as Richard Slade 

O poor Mary Bellows 

Poor Mary thought that she might die 

When she saw the ocean for the first time 

O poor Mary Bellows 

She checked into a cheap little place 

Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase 

O poor Mary Bellows 

"I'm a good girl, sir" she said to him 

I couldn't possibly permit you in 

O poor Mary Bellows 

Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye 

And turned away without goodbye 

O poor Mary Bellows 

She sat on her bed and thought of home 

With the sea breeze whistling all alone 

O poor Mary Bellows 

In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor 

And undid the latch on her front door 

O poor Mary Bellows 

They found her the next day cuffed to the bed 

A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head 

O poor Mary Bellows 

So mothers keep your girls at home 

Don't let them journey all alone 

Tell them this world is full of danger 

The shun the company of strangers 

O poor Mary Bellows 

O poor Mary Bellows