Every songwriter has a mother, and most of them have written at least one song about them, or written songs about being a mother themselves. Here are some of our favourites, in honour of Mother's Day.
Stan Walker - Thank You
Local pop star Stan Walker wrote this one after battling stomach cancer, and an operation removing the offending organ. If you’ve watched the doco that followed his experience, you’ll know that his mama (who shares the same mutated cancer-causing gene) was by his side and so strong, through the whole thing.
April Walker, you raised a good one. We wish you the happiest Mother’s Day, you deserve to put your feet up.
Brandi Carlile - The Mother
“The first things that she took from me were selfishness and sleep
She broke a thousand heirlooms I was never meant to keep
She filled my life with color, canceled plans, and trashed my car
But none of that was ever who we are”
Oh Brandi, you nail motherhood with this song so well it breaks us into pieces every time we hear it.
Yes, those kids will break your things, your car will forever be covered in crumbs, and you won’t sleep properly, perhaps ever again. But they also teach you so many things about the world that you’d forgotten, and help you grow the parts of yourself that weren’t as strong before having children.
She’s just released a brand new video for the song in time for Mothers day, but you should also catch this live version
The Beatles - Julia
John Lennon wrote a few songs about his mother Julia, with whom he had a complicated relationship (as laid bare in his Plastic Ono band song Mother). She left him when he was five, but they reconnected when John was a teenager, and it was her who bought him a guitar and taught him his first chords.
She died in a car crash when he was just 17.
Anika Moa - Mother
Anika Moa herself is a mother, to four children now, and it’s an aspect of her life she shares freely and honestly with fans on social media and we love her all the more for it.
Often when women become mothers they appreciate their own mums a lot more. This may be the case for Anika too, but she appreciated her mum in song way back in 2001.
Lucy Dacus - My Mother & I
Released this month, Dacus focusses this lovely finger-picking folk song on the things that she shares with her mother - a star-sign (Taurus - known for their stubbornness) and an outline (there’s a not-so-subtle message in there about being careful with body image hang-ups).
Interestingly, Dacus is adopted, so she’s actually singing about both of her mothers, the adoptive one and the biological one.
Big Thief - Mythological beauty
We love a good family history, and songwriter Adrienne Lenker packs a lot of her incredible story into this song. How her mother is this ethereally beautiful woman, who got pregnant at 17 and gave the baby boy up for adoption. How later, when Adrienne was five, she fell from a homemade tree ladder and had to be rushed to hospital with “Blood gushing from my head”, in the back of the car with her mother.
“I was just five and you were twenty-seven / Praying “don’t let my baby die”
There’s incredible empathy from child to mother here, including an acknowledgement that her mum might just want to run away. A feeling many mothers can relate to at times.
Also, pretty sure the older woman in this video is actually Lenker’s mother.
Tami Neilson - Big Boss Mama
Tami Neilson is the most badass, babing mama in NZ music. She’s an inspiration to working mothers everywhere. Shout outs to the fathers/whanau/support crews who can make this easier.
Merle Haggard - Mama Tried
Hey mama, if your children turn out to be hardened criminals serving life sentences in prison, it ain’t because you didn’t try to steer them right. Also, refer to Tupac’s Dear Mama.
Anderson.Paak - The Season / Carry Me
This is a two-for-one shout out from Anderson.Paak to his mother and his wife (mother of his children).
The song covers the impact of his parents’ jail time (his father was jailed for assaulting his mother. Years later his mother served time for tax evasion), and his own troubles pursing his music career with a young family.
"I was sleeping on the floor, newborn baby boy
Tryna get my money pot so wifey wouldn’t get deported"
When a grown man sings “mama can you carry me”, it really strikes to the essence of what we all occasionally need, no matter how old or young we are.
Adeaze - A Mother’s Love
Mother's Day holds a special day in the hearts of New Zealand R&B/Soul duo Adeaze. It's not only a day to remember their Mum, who has since passed, but it was also her birthday. Their 2018 album is a tribute to their mother who also appears on the front cover.
Melodownz - $on Of A Queen
Last but not least, we have to include this banger to round out our Mother's Day selections!
On his 2017 album Avontales, hip hop artist Melodownz (aka Bronson Price) explores themes of growing up on the streets of West Auckland. It's a record that speaks to balancing his duality, his street savvy side versus his peace-loving inner hippy, and in '$on of a Queen', the rapper shouts out his mum for keeping him grounded: "I don’t wanna be famous, just be the way my mother raised me up".
Happy Mother's Day māmā Melodownz.
There are dozens more great songs about mothers on this Spotify Playlist we made for you: