For Martha Makes Top Ten

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Ten rockin’ songs inspired by mothers — whether happy or sad — and the stories behind how they came about
By Patrick S. Pemberton

When I set out to make compilation CD for my mom

last year, the first song that came to mind was Paul Simon’s “Mother and Child Reunion.”

What better song to include on a Mother’s Day CD? Right there in the title you’ve got “mother,” “child” and “reunion,” and you just knew there had to be some great story behind it about Simon and his mom.

Except, I just learned, the song has nothing to do with Simon’s mom. It was actually inspired by a chicken and egg meal — called Mother and Child Reunion—Simon saw on a Chinese restaurant menu.

Sorry, Ma. If it helps, I love you more than Chinese food.

Maybe this time around, I’ll include songs actually inspired by moms. Of course, not all mother songs are happy ones.

Here are my top 10:

10.) “Mother, Mother,” Tracy Bonham

The song, which relates a phone call to the narrator’s mother, seems pretty cynical: “Sure I’m sober, sure I’m fine … if I tell you what you want to hear, will it help you sleep well at night?”

But the ’90s alternative rocker refuted that is was a negative song.

“If people think ‘Mother Mother’ is a hate-your-parents rant, then somebody obviously didn’t get the joke,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

Hmmm. Maybe the confusion is caused by her screaming: “I’m hungry,

I’m dirty, I’m losing my mind. Everything is fine!”

9.) “Hey, Mama,” Kanye West

West wrote this after his mother died last year of complications of cosmetic surgery at age 58.

The song is an ode to his mother’s dedication to child-rearing.

At the Grammy Awards that followed, West had “Mama” carved into his hair. And as he held his statue, he spoke to his mother, a former college professor and department head: “I know you want me to be the No. 1 artist in the world. And, Mama, all I’m going to do is keep making you proud.”

8.) “Philomena,” Thin Lizzy

Though it’s been more than two decades since lead singer Phil Lynott died after a drug-and-drinking binge, his mother, now 76, still carries on his memory, sometimes singing onstage with Thin Lizzy tribute bands.

The song, sung in a raspy, Springsteen- like voice, is about his mother — Philomena .

“If you see my mother, give her all of my love,” Lynott sang. “For she has a heart of gold that’s as good as God above.”

7.) “This Woman’s Work,” Kate Bush

In the 1988 movie “She’s Having a Baby,” Kevin Bacon’s character is told that his unborn baby is upside down in the mother’s womb.

“It’s too early to tell,” the nurse says, as the two stand in a lonely hospital hallway. “But we’re doing everything we can.”

As the would-be father agonizes, helplessly waiting outside the delivery room, this song begins with the lines,

“Pray God you can cope, I stand outside this woman’s work.”

6.) “Lady Madonna,” The Beatles

You’ll notice that the Beatles have lots of songs about mothers. That’s because both John Lennon and Paul McCartney lost their mothers when they were teens. This song, a celebration of motherhood, was supposedly inspired by a photo McCartney saw of an African woman breast feeding her child. Below the photo was a caption that read, “Mountain Madonna,” referring to a mountain in the background.

5.) “For Martha,” Smashing Pumpkins

Lead singer Billy Corgan has written about his own mother, who died of cancer in 1996, in this song and in “Once Upon a Time.” Corgan, who has performed “For Martha” onstage with his musician father, has been known to break out in tears midway through the song, which asserts, “Someday I’ll follow you and see you on the other side.”

4.) “Julia,” the Beatles

McCartney’s mother died of cancer when he was just 14. Lennon lost his mother when he was 17.

Though Julia Lennon had sent her son to live with her sister, she was rebuilding her relationship with her son when she was hit by a drunken, off-duty police officer. Lennon — who also sang about abandonment in the gut-wrenching “Mother”— said it was like losing his mom twice.

He wrote “Julia” while on a retreat in India, where Donovan taught him the fingerpicking guitar style used in this song.

3.) “Love Me Like a Rock,” Paul Simon

This song (definitely not about Chinese food) doesn’t reveal anything

about Simon’s relationship with his

mother, except that his mother loves him like a rock, whatever that means. With relatively simple lyrics

(“My mama she loves me, she loves me — she gets down on her knees and hugs me.”), this tune — Simon’s first to sell a million copies as a solo artist — is more known for its musical composition, featuring a gospel quartet.

2.) “Mother’s Little Helper,” The Rolling Stones

The first line — “What a drag it is getting old” — pretty much sets the tone for this song about a dissatisfied mother who takes little yellow pills to get her through the day.

The song was intended in part to suggest that it wasn’t just rock stars who consumed drugs in the late ’60s.

1.) “Let It Be,” The Beatles

During rocky recording sessions that foresaw the demise of the group, McCartney said he found solace in a calming dream featuring his mother, Mary. The song that followed represented a message of peace and calm during an increasingly turbulent 60s. (The Stones’ “Let It Bleed” album from that same year had a much less optimistic outlook.)

After McCartney’s wife Linda died of cancer in 1998, the widower led mourners through a heartfelt rendition of “Let It Be.”