Replies

ODE TO MARY JO (With apologies to Bobby Gentry)

It was Seventeen July, Another sleepy, humid Hyannis day,
I was out shuckin' clams And my brother was slicin’ brie,
And at supper time we stopped and walked back to the compound to dine
And Rose hollered at the back door, "You savages remember to act refined."
Then she said, "I got some news this morning from Cambridge

***Today Mary Jo and Teddy went off the Chappaquiddick Bridge ."***

Joe said to Rose, as he passed around the Roquefort cheese "
Well, Teddy never had an ounce of sense, pass the lobster please
There's five more states in the lower forty-eight I got to screw."
And Rose said it was a shame about Mary Jo, she knew
Seems like no good news ever comes out of Cambridge

***And now Teddy and Mary Jo went off the Chappaquiddick Bridge.***

Brother said he remembered when he and Jack and Teddy K
Wrecked a yacht on a cove on Cape Cod Bay
And wasn't I talking to him after Mass last Sunday night
I'll have another couple escargot, you know, it don't seem right
I saw her at the gin mill yesterday in Falmouth with some kids

***And now you tell me Mary Jo and Teddy went off the Chappaquiddick Bridge.***

Mama said to me, "Child, what's happened to your appetite?
Bridget’s cooked all morning and you haven't touched a single bite
That nice Police Chief Arena dropped by today
Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, Oh, by the way
He said he saw a girl that looked like you on the On Time-Two at nine
And she and Teddy K. were throwing something into Pocha Pond"
A year has come and gone since we heard the news 'bout Mary Jo
Brother married Vicky Gifford, they bought a place in Truro
There was a virus going 'round, Joe caught it and died last spring
And now Rose doesn't seem to want to do much of anything
And me I spend a lot of time snorting coke up in Cambridge
And dropping tabs over on the Chappaquiddick Bridge.