Richard Marx’s “Hazard” Lyrics Meaning
“Hazard” is an interesting song which has been described as a murder ballad. The lyrics are entirely fictional in their approach, and they center primarily on the narrator himself, who portrays a character who is never actually named.
The Story
The story begins with he and his mother moving to a town called Hazard ‘when he was just seven’. And from the onset the villagers have issues with him. Or more specifically, they perceive that something ‘is not right’ with the child. Now what it is exactly they have against him is not specified. But later in life, the singer classifies such as “rumors and… lies”. By this he is insinuating that they were just prejudiced against him for some unfair reason.
So this was something he had to regularly deal with, people hating on him for no good reason. That is until he met “Mary”. Instead of paying attention to all of the gossip or giving in to the prejudice, Mary actually judged the narrator for who he was internally as opposed to what people said about him.
So logically he becomes close to Mary. Indeed you can even say he fell in love with her, though this is not to insinuate that they had a romantic relationship. And everyone in the ‘hood knew he and Mary were mad cool yet never really thought much of it.
Then one night Mary is murdered. And of course everybody thinks that it was him, the narrator, who committed this atrocity. However, he maintains his innocence and ‘swears’ that the last time he saw Mary “by the river” she was in fact safe and sound.
Conclusions
So basically that’s how the story ends, on somewhat of the cliffhanger, as in we never know the exact fate of the narrator. However, with the populace of Hazard being thoroughly convinced of his guilt, there appears to be “no escape” for him out of this particular situation. Indeed some fans even contend that at the end of the day the lyrics imply that the singer commits suicide, and that taking such an action may actually be an indication of his guilt.
So as will be expounded upon in the trivia section, “Hazard” was actually a big hit when it came out. In fact even some 25 years after the track has been released, Marx is still being pressed to reveal who Mary’s killer actually is.
Music Video
Well-recognized music video artist Michael Haussman directed the official clip for “Hazard”.
Who wrote “Hazard”?
In addition to being its singer, “Hazard” was also written and produced by Marx.
Release Date
The song came out via Capitol Records on 28 October 1991 as part of Marx’s third album, “Rush Street”.
Hazard is a real Place
This song is named after Hazard, an actual town in Nebraska. He chose this particular village for two reasons. First is that he was specifically looking for one whose name is only two-syllables long to fit in with the flow of the track. Secondly, considering the nature of the lyrics, he thought this particular name was perfect. However, it has been noted that, unlike the lyrics imply, there is not an actual river in Hazard.
The residents of Hazard appreciated Marx making their ‘hood more popular via this tune. For instance, at their invite, he served as the Grand Marshall for the 1993 4th of July parade held by Sherman County, which Hazard is a part of.
International Hit
“Hazard” proved to be one of the great successes of Richard Marx’s illustrious career. For instance, it topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart and also scored a number one in Australia and Canada. And overall it charted in a dozen nations, including peaking at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Moreover “Hazard” has been certified Platinum in Australia and Silver in the UK.
As the reader can see, the subject matter of the lyrics of this track is quite unorthodox for a pop song. In fact Marx was thoroughly convinced that “Hazard” would never actually catch on with the public. However, his wife at the time, who was Cynthia Rhodes of “Dirty Dancing” (1987) fame, was able to perceive that it was “a hit”. So he included it on the album “just to prove to her” that it wasn’t. But of course in hindsight, we know that she was actually right.
I thin k the other guy was the killer and he used his scarf to set him up ( Marx) knowing the folks of that town already thought he wasn’t! Right?
There was no murder. She committed suicide. However due to the claims of the small town, that boys not right. He was obviously seen with “mary” multiple time, while they were at the river, it was easy to point fingers. No one wants to assume someone committed suicide especially in the time that this song was written.
I think that the cop that was always following them around did it because he knew he had the perfect scapegoat.
In the end of the song, I wonder if he tries to get to the river in order to run away from the town and the police, or to drown himself.
As much as I’m curious as to what happened to Mary. I think Richard Marx should keep us guessing. Like Carly Simon does with “You’re So Vain”.
The way I see it, the Narrator had indeed killed Mary. In the 3rd stanza he says “…until the night she went out walking all alone…”. Then he repeatedly claims “…I swear I left her by the river, I swear I left her safe and sound…”. And here’s the problem. If Mary had indeed gone out alone, then how come he “left her by the river safe and sound”??? Mary might have gone out alone, but surely he had followed her. What is unclear to me, is what prompted him to kill the only one person who had been kind to him.
The police officer was obsessed, taking photographs and following her, he took what he needed and then killed her to avoid the truth coming out then set the kid up. What was not right about the kid, looks alright to me!
Possible. Someone else killed Mary and framed the Narrator. But then, my question remains unanswered – how come the Narrator left somebody by the river safe and sound if she had walked out all alone? 🙂
It was the sheriff that killed her cause he was infatuated with her, but she was afraid of him. Then he tried to frame the friend/boyfriend.
In the video it shows Richard watching Mary kissing another man in the car and even in bed … and he walks away sad… I think he was the one who killed Mary … at one point shows that Mary was followed too… so I don’t think the narrator is the killer… he loved Mary
At the very beginning of the video we see a young boy setting a house on fire, I thought this was the narrator and the house was his fathers and the new girlfriend.
I think he did kill Mary after seeing her with another man which reminded him of his father.
He says “all of my chances are gone”