“What you thought was your daddy was nothing but a…
…While you were sitting home alone at age 13, your real daddy was dying
Sorry you didn’t see him
But I’m glad we talked”
-Pearl Jam
“And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.” – Merle Haggard
Also quoted by Iggy Pop in the opening of “Loco Mosquito”.
Here’s what she said to me:
Mamma never actually told me anything, but goddamn she played that fuggin’ squeeze box all night long.
I heard your mother now she’s going out the door
Did she go to work or just go to the store
All those things she said, I told you to ignore.
Blondie
So you think you know how to wipe your own nose
So you think you know how to button your clothes
You don’t know shit if you haven’t already guessed
You’re just a bump on the log of life 'cuz Mother knows best
Richard Thompson Mother Knows Best
she don’t like my kick pleat skirt
she don’t like my eyelids painted green
Joni Mitchell, Let the Wind Carry Me
*It sounded like somebody else that was talkin’
Askin’, “Mama, what do I do?”
She said,“Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy”
“They’ll be nice to you”
She said, “Here’s your chance Fancy, don’t let me down
Here’s your one chance Fancy, don’t let me down”
Lord, forgive me for what I do, but if you want out
Well, it’s up to you, and don’t let me down
Now your mama’s gonna move you uptown*
Reba McEntire
Mom was a woman of few words.
But Daddy said, “son you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ of you don’t stop driving that hot rod Lincoln.”
mmm
Mama says you only fall in love once
Well, this is just a little Peyton Place and you’re all Harper Valley hypocrites!
Wish I had listened to what Mama said. Then I wouldn’t be here tryin’ to sleep in this cold iron bed.
Many of my favorites have been covered but…
Metallica
Told me when I’s young
Son, your life’s an open book
Don’t close it 'fore it’s done
And of course Pink Floyd
Mama’s gonna make all of your nightmares come true
Mama’s gonna put all of her fears into you
Damn you, kunilou! I thought I’d successfully scrubbed that from my brain! As a kid, I used to have the album by Jeannie C. Reilly, and I wore it out.
Well, the old folks say that you gotta end your date by 10pm.
From Little Shop of Horrors:
That’s when my mama said
(What did she say?)
She said, "My boy, I think someday
You’ll find a way
To make your natural tendencies pay
You’ll be a dentist
You have a talent for causin’ things pain
Son, be a dentist
People will pay you to be inhumane
Your temperament’s wrong for the priesthood
And teaching would suit you still less
Son, be a dentist
You’ll be a success
Mama told me not to come
She said, that ain’t the way to have fun, son
That ain’t the way to have fun, son
Three Dog Night (Wolfgang Press has a better version)
My mama told me someday you will be a man!
You will be the leader of a big ol’ band,
many people comin from miles around
to hear you play your music when the sun goes down!
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
sayin’ “Johnny B Goode Tonight!”
“Child, what’s happened to your appetite?
I been cookin’ all mornin’ and you haven’t touched a single bite!”