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Original lyrics

Hazard lyrics

My mother came to Hazard
When I was just seven
Even then the folks in town
Said with prejudiced eyes
That boy's not right
 
Three years ago
When I came to know Mary
First time that someone looked
Beyond the rumors and lies
And saw the man inside
 
We used to walk down by the river
She loved to watch the sun go down
We used to walk along the river
And dream our way out of this town
 
No one understood
What I felt for Mary
No one cared until the night
She went a-walking alone
And never came home
 
Man with a badge
Came knocking next morning
Here was I surrounded by
A thousand fingers suddenly
Pointed right at me
 
I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town
 
I think about my life gone by
How it's done me wrong
There's no escape for me this time
All of my rescues are gone
Long gone
 
I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old Nebraska town
 

 

Comments
magicmuldermagicmulder
   Tue, 27/03/2018 - 12:40

The song leaves it up to the listener to decide what actually happened.

My theory is that the protagonist is mentally disturbed.
He hints at this not being the first time he was (justly?) accused of a crime ("There's no escape for me *this time*").
He also alludes to intending to kill himself ("I need to make it to the river // And leave this old Nebraska town"), linking the river with death, another hint that he may have killed Mary when he "left her by the river".

Yet another hint is that his recount of the fateful night is slightly contradictory ("She went a-walking alone" vs. "I swear I left her by the river").

The video yields yet another hint - he and Mary may not have been lovers but simply friends (after all, the song never claims they were lovers), and he was jealous of Mary's actual boyfriend.
(While the video also hints at the sheriff being the potential killer, the sheriff might just have been very suspicious of him, causing him to follow the two around whenever possible.)

In addition, the video shows what can be interpreted as the father leaving the family (or never returning from war) and the mother taking a lover. The son then sets fire to the house when he sees his mother with the other man, possibly killing him. This would explain how he was accused of manslaughter before (see "this time" in the second paragraph - he only had an "escape" because he wasn't prosecutable since he still was a kid) and how people were prejudiced towards him when he and his mother moved to Hazard (and the reason for the move).

One can interpret his defense of "I left her by the river [...] safe and sound" as a psychopath's way of saying "I did her a favour by killing her, I helped her find peace". If he wants to "get out of town" by drowning himself, it's likely he thought he'd "help her escape" by drowning her.