brave marie, brave marie
broke every barrier she ever did see
and she etched one heck of a legacy
mighty mighty brave marie

born in the late 1860’s
warsaw had never saw anything
like a girl this smart so bold so free
mighty mighty brave marie

only ten when her mother succumbed to TB
it wouldn’t be her last brush with tragedy
she took after dad academically
mighty mighty smart marie

government said college boys only
so she found the secret flying university
put her sister through school
made her money tutoring
mighty generous marie

brave marie, brave marie
broke every barrier she ever did see
armed only with her wits, she stormed Paris
mighty mighty brave marie

dead broke living on toast and tea
masters of physics by ’93
the next year she’d follow with a math degree
head of the class marie

in ’95 she met physicist pierre curie
finally found a fun kind of chemistry
it wasn’t one short year before the wedding
man and marie curie

they made elemental discovery
named polonium after her home country
isolated radium by 1903
the all-star team curie

brave marie, brave marie
broke every barrier she ever did see
and she taught us radioactivity
mighty mighty brave marie

In ’06 pierre died tragically
he left behind a widow on a pile of grief
she took on his job
the first lady professor madame curie

she didn’t even want it when they told her she
had won the Nobel for physics
she was the one and only woman
and it wouldn’t even be the last one
for brave marie

cuz in 1911 more history
her second nobel
now she’s still the only one
to be awarded in physics
and again in chemistry
mighty groundbreaking marie


brave marie, brave marie
broke every barrier she ever did see
didn’t want a bit of credit
just a whole lot of peace
mighty mighty brave marie

then war took over 1914
she kept her head down working radiology
and made the world’s first field x-ray machine
might heroic indeed

then all her hard work found a cold hard link
between radiation and her blood disease
it took her down quick
left the world to grieve
the late great brave marie

you could spend years counting all she achieved
showed the world a woman’s got a mind to speak
gave all our daughters a real chance to dream
like the late great brave marie

brave marie, brave marie
broke every barrier she ever did see
and she etched one heck of a legacy
mighty mighty brave marie
mighty mighty madame curie