YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 42 (Mothers)
Preface: I guess Mother's Day is coming up, so on a whim, we'll do a week of songs related to mothers!
Monday (5/05/08): B.B. King - Nobody Loves Me But My Mother [Indianola Mississippi Seeds, 1970]
Comments: This doesn't even seem like a complete song, but I've always loved it. It's just a pure blues feeling. "Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin', too."
Tuesday (5/06/08): Cream - Mother's Lament [Disraeli Gears, 1967]
Comments: Here's a rather humorous track from Cream's popular Disraeli Gears album, concerned with (presumably) every mother's fear of her baby slipping down the drain.
Wednesday (5/07/08): The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper [Aftermath, 1966]
Comments: This early hit for the Stones seems to sympathize with the hard work and lack of respect modern day mothers tend to get, but it's also a pessimistic tale of self-medication resulting in lethal overdose.
Thursday (5/08/08): Pink Floyd - Matilda Mother [The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, 1967]
Comments: Did you really think I was gonna pick the song Mother from The Wall? Then you must not know me very well. Instead, check out this surreal song by original band founder Syd Barrett from the sensationally psychedelic Piper At The Gates of Dawn album.
Friday (5/09/08): Bob Dylan - It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding [Bringing It All Back Home, 1965]
Comments: Depending on how you choose to interpret the lyrics to this song, it may or may not have anything to do with mothers. However, the title/chorus seems to evoke that relationship between mother and child in which the mother wishes to protect the child, while the child desires to stand on his own two legs and face the world with his own strength, to the mother's inevitable worry and chagrin.
Saturday (5/10/08): Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Welfare Mothers (Live) [Weld, 1991]
Commments: Here's an amusing but very seriously performed song about the welfare life. Between the two live versions, I think this one from Weld is even better than the one from the classic album Rust Never Sleeps. The check's in the mail.
Sunday (5/11/08): Janis Joplin - Tell Mama (Live) [Festival Express, 1970]
Comments: Closing out this week's theme is our own blues/rock/soul "mother of pearl", if you will, Janis Joplin. And in case you ain't figured it out yet, she'll tell you just what you need.