"Midnight Mary" should be on any list of songs with conservative themes. In contrast to the losers portrayed in Dickie Lee's "Patches" and the Four seasons' "Dawn (Go Away)," which were hits at about the same time, the protagonist in "Midnight Mary" expresses a determination to succeed while playing by the rules and exudes confidence that he will do so.
Unfortunately, the Jerry Cole version of "Midnight Mary" wasn't a hit--it didn't even chart nationally. The Joey Powers version, which was released a week later--and which I don't like as well--is the one that scored