Well my name is Charlie Thomas and I’m as good a man as you
And for the love of Mary Brown there’s nothin’ that I won’t do
Well her husband was a banker, yet she told me he was cruel
So I left his body lyin’ in the yard where their roses grew.

Well she and I grew up neighbors where the houses looked the same
And I swear that I loved Mary Brown before I knew her name
And after she married and he moved her away
You know she’d still come back and lay with me like nothin’ had ever changed.

I know what’s what’s wrong and right
What goes around, comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.

Well people like him always look down on me
Because I’ve done a little time for armed robbery
Yeah, but Mary Brown knows I’m from a good family
And she didn’t say nothing’ when she slipped me the back door key.

I know what’s wrong and right
What goes around comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.

Well at my trial she testified she kissed me once or twice
But she swore that was long before she became his wife
And every time I looked at her she avoided my eyes
And the jury sentenced me to twenty-five years to life.

Now I haven’t seen Mary Brown since the trial’s end
And she never answers the letters that I send
And I heard that she married her husband’s best friend
Yeah but for the love of Mary Brown, man I’d do it all again.

I know what’s wrong and right
What goes around, comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.