Mary C. Brown

You know the Hollywood sign
That stands in the Hollywood Hills
I don't think the Christ of the Andes
Ever blessed so many ills

The Hollywood sign seems to smile
Like it's constantly saying cheese
I doubt if the Statue of Liberty
Ever welcomed more refugees

Give me your poor
Your tired, your pimps
You carhops
Your cowboys
Your midgets, your chimps

Give me your freaks
Give me your flunkies
Your starlets
Your whores
Give me your junkies

Mary Cecilia Brown
Rode to town on a Malibu bus
She climbed to the top of the Hollywood sign
And with the smallest possible fuss

She jumped off the letter H
Because she did not become a star
She died in less than a minute and a half
She looked a bit like Hedy Lamarr

Sometimes I have this dream
When the time comes for me to go
I will climb that hill and I will hang myself
From the second or third letter O

When Mary Cecilia jumped
She finally made the grade
Her name was in the obituary column
Of both the daily trades

I hope the Hollywood sign
Cries for the town it touches
The Lady of Lourdes in her grotto
Saw fewer cripples and crutches

Give me your poor
Your maladjusted
Your sick and your beat
Your sad and your busted

Give me your has-beens
Give me your twisted
Your loners
Your losers
Give me your black-listed

You know the Hollywood sign
Witness to our confusion
A symbol of dreams
Turns out to be a sign of disillusion