John Lennon’s Mother

John Lennon’s Mother

I recently came across John Lennon’s song “Mother”. It begins with a doleful slow church bell sound, as at a funeral, repeated four times. Then he abruptly comes in with a loud and angry “Mother!” followed by these words: “You had me, but I never had you. I wanted you, you didn’t want me”. This is followed by “Oh, I’ve gotta tell you, goodbye, goodbye”. The next verse is as follows: “Father, you left me, I never left you. I needed you, you didn’t need me”. Then we have the same “Oh, I’ve gotta tell you, goodbye, goodbye”.  The third verse runs, “Children, don’t you do, what I have done. I couldn’t walk, I tried to run”. Then the same chorus ending with “goodbye, goodbye”. At this point the song suddenly changes into something quite different: John blurts out the words, loud and clear, “Mama don’t go, Daddy come home”. The rest of the song consists of him repeating these words about ten times, becoming ever more anguished and hysterical, before the song fades out on a screaming “Mama don’t goooooooo!”. It must be the least commercial pop song ever made. There is nothing remotely pretty about it. It is patently autobiographical, as John Lennon’s mother died when he was 17 when she was hit by a car driven by an off-duty policeman outside her sister’s house. John hardly knew his father, a merchant seaman who was rarely home, and abandoned his family when John was 5. He was raised by his aunt Mimi, though kept in contact with his mother till the time of her death. This song would never have been released by the Beatles, because of its angry gloomy content. I think it is a masterpiece artistically, melodic and powerful.

I decided to learn to sing it, partly as a vocal exercise; it is hard to sing physically. In order to sing it, especially the second half, it is necessary to get into the mood of the song—despairing and angry. You have to belt out “Mama don’t go!” with maximum volume and emotion, virtually screaming (but hitting the note). I love singing it. It reminds me of “This Boy” by the Beatles, an early B-side, particularly the middle-eight. John screams out “That boy won’t be happy, till he sees you cry-y-y”. I also really enjoy singing this song. It is one of the best songs they ever released, but was deemed not commercial enough to be an A-side. It makes me think that Lennon was holding back throughout the Beatles career, because they wanted (and needed) to make pop songs (but note “No Reply”). Anyway, I recommend listening to “Mother”, especially if you have any parental issues—or other issues for that matter. Cathartic? I’ll say it is. I think I’ll go and sing it now.