# Help a dad-to-be out: identify songs about being a mom, having a son **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262 "2007-07-10T21:10:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/21 "2007-07-11T15:06:51Z")
I’m fond of “[When you dream](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/barenakedladies/whenyoudream.html)” by the Barenaked Ladies, written about a newborn baby boy. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/22 "2007-07-11T15:15:14Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Though I absolutely detest the song, some people like Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Soliloquy” from **Carousel**. I find it maudlin, cliched, and ultimately pretty appalling, but it does try to cover a father’s emotions about the birth of a child. [/QUOTE] [hijack] Wow. Wow. Why? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/23 "2007-07-11T15:44:38Z")
\ Congratulations! Now off to Cafe Society with you. Moved. \ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/24 "2007-07-11T15:48:00Z")
‘For Baby’ (for bobby) John Denver does a great version but I think Peter Paul and Mary do one as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/25 "2007-07-11T15:57:30Z")
[QUOTE=Rico] \ Congratulations! Now off to Cafe Society with you. Moved. \ [/QUOTE] Thanks, **Rico** … wasn’t sure where it fit exactly. CS it is! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/26 "2007-07-11T16:43:49Z")
Paul Anka’s “She’s Having My Baby” is always good for inspiring post-natal nausea. Other songs probably best avoided: “Lonely Boy” (Andrew Gold) “Excitable Boy” (Warren Zevon) “Billie Jean” (Michael Jackson) ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/27 "2007-07-11T17:21:06Z")
Congratulations, **Hippy Hollow** and **Mrs. Hippy!** I’ve always thought the Magnetic Fields’ “Asleep and Dreaming” was about a parent speaking to a child. Jonathan Coulton’s “You Ruined Everything” is, despite the title, a very sweet song about how a baby changes your life. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/28 "2007-07-11T17:28:35Z")
Pearl Jam has an acoustic lullaby: [Around the Bend](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Pearl-Jam/Around-The-Bend.html) ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/29 "2007-07-11T17:31:35Z")
When I got pregnant in 1988, my best friend made me a mixed tape about this very thing. I am trying to remember what was on it. I know it had “father and son” jim croce. “changes” david bowie. “where do the children play?” cat stevens, “wonderful world”, louie armstrong but that is all that comes to mind right now. Congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/30 "2007-07-11T17:43:36Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] Jonathan Coulton’s “You Ruined Everything” is, despite the title, a very sweet song about how a baby changes your life. [/QUOTE] “There Goes My Life” is the same way. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/31 "2007-07-11T18:22:24Z")
[QUOTE=storyteller0910] [hijack] Wow. Wow. Why? [/hijack] [/QUOTE] As I said, maudlin and cliched; I can’t find a single true emotion, just a long list of all the cliches about fatherhood that Hammerstein could come up with (I like Hammerstein as a lyricist except when he’s trying to make a point; then his need to hammer everything home is tiresome). Add to that the implication in the lyrics that it’s OK to commit crimes in the name of your child and the song becomes _really_ appalling. Not to mention that the melody is totally forgettable, and the play it’s in glorifies spousal abuse (“Sometimes being hit feels like love,” says the victim. :rolleyes: ) ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/32 "2007-07-11T18:54:26Z")
How about **“Kid”** by The Pretenders. **"Baby Mine"** from the Dumbo soundtrack made me cry when I heard it in the car with my baby girl. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/33 "2007-07-11T19:08:06Z")
“Living Proof” by Bruce Springsteen “Well now on a summer night in a dusky room Come a little piece of the Lord’s undying light Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon In his mother’s arms it was all the beauty I could take Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/34 "2007-07-11T19:28:02Z")
[QUOTE=Foxy40] I know it had “father and son” jim croce. [/QUOTE] [Cat Stevens](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/cat+stevens/father+son_20028183.html), innit? That one seems more like an exchange between a father and an angsty teenage son. ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/35 "2007-07-11T19:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] As I said, maudlin and cliched; I can’t find a single true emotion, just a long list of all the cliches about fatherhood that Hammerstein could come up with (I like Hammerstein as a lyricist except when he’s trying to make a point; then his need to hammer everything home is tiresome). Add to that the implication in the lyrics that it’s OK to commit crimes in the name of your child and the song becomes _really_ appalling. Not to mention that the melody is totally forgettable, and the play it’s in glorifies spousal abuse (“Sometimes being hit feels like love,” says the victim. :rolleyes: ) [/QUOTE] Don’t want to really hijack this thread, but I can’t help respond once more. I think that much of what you say is true - but it’s also the _point_. I don’t think Hammerstein would tell you that he thinks it’s OK to commit crimes in the name of your child; I don’t think the audience is supposed to come away with the impression that Billy is in the right. The whole point of that song - including the broad, obvious cliches - is that Billy doesn’t understand at all what being a father is _about_. He’s a punk and a violent loser, and he _thinks_ that fatherhood is about teachin’ yer kid to rassle (if yer kid’s a boy) and stealing so you can give her a nice dress (if yer kid’s a girl). The idea of the song is it’s someone who makes all the wrong assumptions about life and about parenthood, combining those wrong assumptions into an astonishingly poor conclusion and, ultimately, a fatal decision. I don’t think the song is meant to make us _like_ Billy - just _understand_ him, and see how and why he goes wrong. (Although there are a couple of what I consider to be powerfully well-written lyrics in there - but that’s for another time, and another thread). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/36 "2007-07-11T20:15:40Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] “Beautiful Boy,” John Lennon: self-explanatory, a love note from a parent to his kid. [/QUOTE] And “Hey Jude”, written by Paul to comfort Julian during the divorce. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/37 "2007-07-11T20:32:49Z")
Isn’t She Lovely - Stevie Wonder ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/38 "2007-07-12T04:01:58Z")
Kinda sappy, but sweet: [Thank God For Kids](http://www.lyricsbox.com/oak-ridge-boys-the-lyrics-thank-god-for-kids-cbcrb3b.html) (Kenny Chesney has a version, too, according the the google search results) Most of the songs I can think of are focus on the Dad rather than the Mom, like [Front Porch Looking In](http://www.lyrics007.com/Lonestar%20Lyrics/My%20Front%20Porch%20Looking%20In%20Lyrics.html) and [Mr. Mom](http://www.lyrics007.com/Lonestar%20Lyrics/Mr.%20Mom%20Lyrics.html). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/39 "2007-07-12T04:33:25Z")
How about Disney’s [Baby Mine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deeZnIAuH8E) (from Dumbo)? (video link) **Bonnie Raitt** did a really beautiful version on the [Stay Awake](http://www.amazon.com/Stay-Awake-Various-Interpretations-Vintage/dp/B000002GFM) CD. You can hear it [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckPhanQCIrQ). **Allison Krauss** also does a nice cover. You can hear it [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HptY7eggqE4). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262/40 "2007-07-12T04:42:49Z")
:smack: Didn’t notice that **Nutty Bunny** had already mentioned **“Baby Mine”**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-a-dad-to-be-out-identify-songs-about-being-a-mom-having-a-son/411262.md?page=3)