I heard a calypso version of the music on the radio this morning and it got me to wondering about the lyrics. For those of you too young to remember them, here is a link Who is Mary Ann? Is she perhaps a beautiful teenager on summer vacation who likes mingling with people on the beach? But what is with all this sand sifting? Maybe she is an adult with a metal detector and lives off the coins and jewelry dropped by the tourists. But all this sand sifting sounds a bit compulsive. Maybe she is a slightly demented homeless person, but then she would be more likely to scare the children away than be loved by them.

Topics: music, lyrics, beach, humor, interpretations