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Entering Marion: A hilarious tale of sex AND the city
beingzoe 6 months ago | 1 response    

I remember the laughter and joy the first time I heard this song on the Dr. Demento show. The following week I recorded it, back when we still had magnetic cassette tapes. Somewhere I still have a cassette with a copy of a copy of that original radio recording.

This summer I took a trip and had the opportunity to visit an old girlfriend, Natalie, who now lives in Kansas. As I was leaving, she asked what music I was listening to on my trip, and explained that if I was interested she had an extra copy of the soundtrack to her life and I was welcome to it.

That’s right, Natalie had gone through every era of her life and created multi-disc collection of the songs of her life. The copy she gave me was a 10 disc set I believe.

So as I continued on my trip I was now replete with nearly a dozen hours of music. I would be lying if I wasn’t most excited to get to whatever discs contained the music of the momentous years we were together. Natalie had a huge influence on my life and am pleased to still count her as a friend today. But I would be lying again if I didn’t admit that it was a passionate and sometimes tempestuous relationship, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I did hit those discs of ‘my life’ as it were.

Too my pleasant relief, the years of ‘our life’ were filled with many wonderful songs. But perhaps the happiest moment experiencing the soundtrack to Natalie’s life was when the first few notes of ‘Entering Marion’ came out of my car speakers. It was the same exact recording of a recording from the radio with the same imperfections as I remembered, though a little dirtier and farther away.

And so it is that I doubly pleased to hear share this version of Entering Marion by John Forster from YouTube.

Lyrics to Entering Marion by John Forster

Lyrics gratefully borrowed from the official JOHN FORSTER’S HOME PAGE

Every year I drive out to Cape Cod for the last part of June.
Leave the city by ten and you’re there in the late afternoon.
On the way there’s a village called Marion that you pass through.
The first time I approached it, I’ll always remember the sign that came into view.

It said, “Entering Marion.”
And I thought, “What a fun little sign!”
But the feeling of entering Marion
Had a kick that was hard to define…
A rapturous rush, a physical flush,
Chills up and down the spine.
For the few minutes I was in Marion
All Massachusetts was mine.

(spoken) Well, it got to be kind of an annual thing…the event that would start each vacation off with a bang!

Then one year – who knows why? – I decided to try a new route.
So I got out my map and I traced one I thought was a beaut.
After driving all morning, I came to the top of a hill,
Where a sign stood before me that promised a new kind of thrill.

It said, “Entering Beverly,”
Which was lovely and not overbuilt.
And the pleasure of entering Beverly
Far outweighed any feelings of guilt.
I could say I’m contrite but it wouldn’t be right,
For the truth is that later that day,
I found myself entering Sharon.
It was there. So was I. We enjoyed it. Hey, what can I say?

By the next year I’d try any route, just for novelty’s sake.
I was cursed with a thirst that no single township could slake.
Oh, at the wheel I looked calm but inside I was running amok,
When a sign in the road dead ahead sent me straight into shock:

“Entering Lawrence.”
My God! I was out of control.
And I’d no sooner finished with Lawrence
Than Boom! I was entering Lowell.
Then I backtracked and re-entered Lawrence,
Then Quincy and Norton as well.
Around midnight I pulled into Athol
And flopped in a fleabag motel.

I slept fitfully in my clothing
And awoke in a pool of sweat and self-loathing.
Lying there, feeling lower than carrion,
A name came clear as a clarion.
I jumped in my car
And before very far-

I was entering Marion.
How totally, wonderfully great!
How grand to be entering Marion
After tramping all over the state.
Every sleaze-bucket burb,
Every tryst by the curb
Had really just helped me to find
I’m happiest entering Marion.
I guess I’m the Marion kind.
Oh yes, I’m the Marion kind.

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