Hazard Lyrics

"Hazard" is a 1991 song performed by pop music artist Richard Marx. It has since become one of the most popular songs of the decade, and returned Marx to the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #9. In addition, the song spent one week atop the adult contemporary chart. It also did very well in the United Kingdom, peaking at #3 on the UK Singles Chart, and it topped the ARIA Chart in Australia. "Hazard" tells the story of an implied friendship or relationship between Marx's character (usually considered the protagonist) and a woman named Mary. Mary is presumably murdered and Marx, shunned by many in the small town since his childhood, is immediately considered the main suspect. Marx, however, maintains his innocence throughout the song, and the question of such is left open to the listener's interpretation. The music video opens with several older men teasing Marx's character as a child with his mother in the background. The video then shows Mary, who is depicted as having features very similar to Marx's mother. Various scenes in this sequence can cause the viewer to become unclear about the nature of their relationship. As the story continues, the town's sheriff is shown taking photographs of the couple and following one or both of them in his vehicle. It is implied that Marx goes to see Mary but catches her making love to an unidentified person. Again, the video flashes back to his childhood, where Marx sees his mother committing adultery. In present time, the sheriff arrives and sees Marx, who then flees, leaving his scarf behind on the branch of a bush. Marx returns home and weeps about Mary. Mary is then shown alone near the river spoken of in the song. She turns to face the camera with a look of surprise on her face, and it is then made to look as if she lay in water. The next morning (as the song states), several people assist in arresting Marx for Mary's murder. While in the interrogation room, Marx is shown a white cloth, which the sheriff identifies as the item used to strangle Mary. Marx then denies that he and Mary were romantically involved, and the sheriff asks if Marx was jealous. At this point, the video reveals a larger picture of Marx's childhood: that after his mother's affair, his father leaves her for another woman. Marx is then shown as a child setting a house on fire, although it is unclear whose it is. Locals are shown vandalizing Marx's home, breaking windows and setting fire to it. It is implied that Marx cannot be proven guilty when the sheriff drops him off at his ruined home. As the video ends, a woman walking by covers her young son's eyes, again implying Marx is an outcast or considered guilty of Mary's murder. The Sheriff The video seems to heavily imply that the Sheriff is guilty. He is seen following one or both of them, taking their pictures, and even keeping pictures of Mary in his squad car. Mary is also shown running away from the squad car on one occasion. The sheriff identifies a white cloth as the murder weapon while interrogating Marx. It appears to be the same white scarf Marx lost on the branch of the bush the night Mary was killed, and the sheriff was the only other person visible at the scene. During an interrogation, another officer questions the sheriff for his obvious riding Marx to confess. The video suggests she was found with the scarf tied around Mary's neck, though earlier seen lost in the branches when Marx was running. Motives could include the sheriff's possible jealousy of Marx and Mary, and the desire to exile Marx permanently from the town by framing him. In the final chorus after the bridge of the song, in the video as he sings "I swear I left her by the river... I left her safe and sound..." we see final scene having Mary running from the sheriff's car (indicated by the car spotlight and apparent police equipment inside). Mary's lover It is also possible that Mary's unidentified lover could be the killer, perhaps because he may have seen Marx lingering outside Mary's house. However, the viewer is given little else to help them come to this conclusion.