mom songs

As Ben Gibbard ponders the meaning of life in our May issue, Brian Howe explores the nature of mother through the song lyrics of rap stars, indie rockers and, uh, Glen Danzig. Though the most important conclusion I drew from the piece is that I am really glad Danzig is not my son, it also reinforced for me the notion that, much like armpits, everybody has a mom—and like armpits, some people’s moms stink. Like, really stink—Ghostface Killah’s mom beat him for peeing the bed! Harsh, Mama Killah!
Quite unlike armpits, though, mothers are the subject of a few great songs. Iron & Wine’s “Upward Over the Mountain” and Smog’s “I Feel Like The Mother Of The World” are two of my favorites among the ones Howe mentions. Of course, it’s not just men that have immortalized and/or vilified their mothers in song. Plenty of female musicians have raised a musical glass to the women they came from (and may or may not, one day, become). Though lacking in Oedipal awkwardness, these songs still pack a punch.
Unlike the “conceptual, impossibly distant sources of confliction” of indie rock that Howe calls out, the type of mother Alela Diane pays tribute to in this heartstring-yanking track is a pantheon of generosity, wisdom, love and affection—the very source of life, contemplated as her child is about to have a daughter of her own. If you love your mom and you want to make her cry, play this song for her!
The irony is delicious and profound. Of course Mama missed all those things and wanted more—and if it wasn’t clear before, it was undeniable by the time her kids and Daddy found her sweet, sad kiss-off note propped up on the kitchen table one day, with Mama nowhere to be found. It’s an extreme way to stumble into the fact that most of us must confront at one time or another: That our mothers are actual sentient beings, that they have lives and hopes and dreams that aren’t entirely defined or limited by our own. (Hopefully your Daddy knows this, too.)

pastemagazine.com


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