Video To Mary Lee's Corvette Song
Gives A Face To Domestic Violence
Jim Bessman
Billboard Magazine
April 28, 2001
Page 47

An educational clip: There's a video available for Why Don't You Leave Him from Mary Lee's Corvette's acclaimed 1999 album, True Lovers of Adventure, but it's not intended for any video channel nor is it for profit. Rather, the clip to the song about spousal abuse was created as an educational tool by D. N. English, a Jackson, Tenn.-based poet and writer who also serves on the Domestic Violence Task Force for West Tennessee and the local Women's Resource and Rape Assistance Program.

"I can't remember where I first heard it, but I fell in love with it and wanted to do something with it," says English, who eventually backed it with slides depicting domestic violence victims for a presentation last month at a conference attended by educators, law enforcement officers, and social workers.

"It really had an impact, because domestic violence has no face, and their faces said it all," she adds.

So did the song, which was co-written by the New York group's leader Mary Lee Kortes and Arnie Roman. "Everyone walked out singing it," English adds. But tunefulness aside, listeners were hooked by the song's powerful lyrics.

"I played it for the director of the local shelter, and she cried. Then I put it together with the pictures, and the guys working with me were speechless. I enjoyed the entire CD, but that song would not leave my head," she says.

English also played the video for an educator from California, "and even he teared up," she says. He also wants customized copies of the clip, "which would include his local domestic violence hotline numbers” for educational purposes.

Kortes wrote the song upon learning that 75% of all women murdered by their mates were killed after leaving them. "I found that totally astonishing," the Magda Lane Music (ASCAP) writer says. "It didn't seem to match my preconceived ideas about domestic abuse. Then it occurred to me how easily women are asked, 'Why don't' you leave him?' and I had the chorus to a song that was begging to be written: "'Cause he said he'd kill me, and I believe him.' It's incredibly gratifying that the song is now getting the chance to do its job."

Listen to Why Don't You Leave Him