'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 08:38 PM

"The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" by Edna St Vincent Millay would surely qualify, except that, despite the title, it seems to have been set to music only as an art song:

http://www.denelder.com/poetry/balladof.html

And what about that dreadful medieval French song about the wicked young woman who asks the wicked young man for his mother's heart to feed her dog? More spewjerking than tearjerking, I'm afraid.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Felicificity: Happiness per unit luck. :||

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 10:09 PM

If the MC has done any single-service to the gargoyle's education....

It is.....

How much fr***ng c**p exists in the world of "folk."

Insiped Inaighn Infantile C*****

Before the MC my broadest source was "Child's" and later "Randolph"....

Susan and Dick..... you MUST draw the line somewhere .... TRAD is traditional .... its roots lie in souls past by....they have been winnowed in the winds of the world.....and the chaff has sifted out....leaving the grain....the truth....the verse.

Because some drunk in a Malaysia added a verse to a traditional tune does not make it TRAD.

Thankful there is a steady hand at the helm.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Pogo
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 09:55 PM

oh there's a good one...It's Sonny something (sonny boy?) and I recall that in the lyrics there's mention of a father who's gone off to be a sailor and never returned.

" Sonny don't go away/I'm here all alone/Your daddy's a sailor/never comes home " ahhh something something " I'm feeling so tired/and I'm not all that strong " Then there's something about " Sonny worked on the land/though he's barely a man " Somebody's got to know that song. I heard a beautiful version of it by a band called Steve Carroll and the Bograts. It's a real tear jerker momma song and probably ought to be added to the list

[See SONNY'S DREAM by Ron Hynes.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Penny Anderson
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 04:53 PM

I'm looking for the words to the song "PUT MY LITTLE SHOES AWAY" and the words to the song "The Old Oak Tree". It's an oldie back from 1949 to 1953, somewhere in between those dates. I use to listen to those songs and I would cry, yet I liked the songs. I was about eight to ten years old. I hope someone can help me find the words to these songs. I'm not sure who sang them. Thanks, Penny Anderson [e-mail]

Subject: Lyr Add: DAHN THE PLUG'OLE
From: GUEST,BFG
Date: 18 Oct 04 - 03:53 AM

An old music-hall song went...

A mother was washing her baby one night
The youngest of ten and a delicate might
The mother turned 'round for the soap off the rack
She was only a moment - but when she turned back
Her baby had gone and in anguish she cried
"Oh where has my baby gone?"
The angels replied

Chorus
"Your baby has gone down the plug-hole
Your baby has gone down the plug
The poor little thing was so skinny and thin
He should have been washed in a jug - In a jug
Your baby is perfectly happy
He won't need a bath any more
For he's mucking (messing) about with the angels above
Not lost! But gone before."

Believe it or not it appeared on 'Disraeli Gears' by 'Cream' (Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker) in the late 60's

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 09:05 PM

I love the Molly O'Day song, "TEARDROPS FALLING IN THE SNOW." The words can be found with a forum search or you can hear Molly sing it on The Record Lady.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALWAYS IN THE WAY (Chas. K. Harris)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Oct 04 - 03:50 PM

Lyrics from The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

The Virtual Gramophone has a 1904 recording by Robert Price.

ALWAYS IN THE WAY.
Chas. K. Harris. 1903.

1. Please, Mister, take me in your car. I want to see Mammá.
They say she lives in heaven. Is it very, very far?
My new Mammá is very cross, and scolds me ev'ry day.
I guess she does not love me, for I'm always in the way.

CHORUS: Always in the way, so they always say;
I wonder why they don't kiss me just the same as sister May?
Always in the way. I can never play.
My own Mammá would never say I'm always in the way.

2. The ride it ended all too soon. She toddled off alone.
A light shone from a window, and she peeped into the room.
"Please tell me is this heaven, Ma'am, and will they let me stay?"
"Forever, child, for this is home, and you're not in the way." CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: TO DADDY (Dolly Parton)
From: GUEST,Jaze
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 10:30 PM

TO DADDY
(Dolly Parton)

Mama never seemed to miss the finer things of life.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
She never wanted to be more than mother and a wife.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
The only thing that seemed to be important to her life
Was to make our house a home and make us happy.
Mama never wanted any more than what she had.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

He often left her all alone but she didn't mind the staying home.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
And she never missed the flowers and the cards he never sent her.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.
Being took for granted was a thing that she accepted;
And she didn't need those things to make her happy;
And she didn't seem to notice that he didn't kiss and hold her.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

One morning we awoke just to find a note
Mama carefully wrote and left to daddy;
And as we began to read it, our ears could not believe it,
The words that she had written there to daddy.
She said, "The kids are older now and they don't need me very much,
And I've gone to search for love I need so badly.
I have needed you so long, but I just can't keep holding on."
She never meant to come back home.
If she did, she never did say so to daddy.

Goodbye to daddy.

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES (Johnny Cash
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 05:47 PM

An old Johnny Cash song my Dad and Uncle used to sing:


DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES
Words and music by Johnny Cash
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "Songs of Our Soil" (1959)

We all were called to come back to the old home on the farm.
Mother passed away; what a mournful day!
And as my Daddy watched, his eyes were filled with pain and hurt
When someone stepped upon a rose and crushed it in the dirt.

CHORUS: "Don't step on Mother's roses!" Daddy cried.
"She planted them the day she was my bride;
And ev'ry time I see a rose, I see her smilin' face.
She made my darkest days look bright 'round the old homeplace.
Don't step on Mother's roses; let 'em grow
The way they did such many years ago.
They'll bloom for me each year, and I'll have Mother near.
Don't step on Mother's roses; let 'em grow."

Years have passed away, and how the old homeplace has changed!
Daddy had to go; we all miss him so!
Children pick the roses as they go along the way,
But when their petals are abused, I hear my Daddy say: CHORUS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 02:52 PM

Tune Frank?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 02:38 PM

And then there's that little fragment of New York City folklore:

Don't cry lady, I'll buy your god-damned violets,
Don't cry lady, your pencils too.
Don't cry lady, take off those beggars goggles,
Hello Mama, I knew it was you.

This might not quite qualify................

Frank

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: kendall
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 11:51 AM

My youngest is 31, yet I still get a lump in my throat just thinking of "Where are you going?"

[See TURN AROUND by Malvina Reynolds.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 10:59 PM

How about Steve Goodman's "The day the dog got drunk and died and Ma was sent to prison..."? ;-D

[See: YOU NEVER EVEN CALLED ME BY MY NAME.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 06:35 PM

"Don't go in them lions cage tonight" is found here: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=1647

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:38 PM

Or "Don't Go in the Lion's Cage Tonight, Mother"? wink wink

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:16 PM

I am amazed that no one has yet mentioned THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK: "Come home, my boy, your dear old mother's dead!" In the DT.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 05:15 PM

It's in the DT. If a search for Barbara Allen doesn't get it, try Barbry Allen or Barbree Allen. Or search for (and use these square brackets) [came nigh him].

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,TAMMY IN MISSOURI
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 08:57 AM

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THE LYRICS TO A SCOTTISH SONG FROM THE 1600'S NAMED BARBRA ALLEN. IF YOU CAN FIND I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT. A FRIEND OF MINE IS VERY ILL AND HER MOTHER SANG IT TO HER WHEN SHE LITTLE AND SHE FORGOT THE WORDS TO IT.   

                                           THANK YOU

Subject: Lyr Add: HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
From:
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 12:22 AM

WOULD ANYONE HAVE..... GUITAR CHORDS for
"HELLO CENTRAL GIVE ME HEAVEN"?????


HELLO CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN
(Charles K. Harris, 1901)

Papa, I'm so sad and lonely, sobbed a tearful, little child.
Since dear Mama's gone to heaven, Papa, darling, you've not smiled
I will speak to her and tell her that we want her to come home
Just you listen and I'll call her, through the telephone.

Chorus: Hello, Central, give me Heaven, 'cause my mother's there
You will find her with the angels, on the Golden Stair.
She'll be glad its me who's speaking, call her won't you please?
For I want to surely tell her we're so lonely here.

When the girl received this message coming o'er the telephone
How her heart thrilled in that moment, and the wires seemed to moan
I will answer just to please her, Yes, dear heart, I'll soon come home
Kiss me , mama, kiss your darling through the telephone

Subject: Lyr Add: HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
From: Nathan in Texas
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 11:13 PM

HEAVEN IS NEARER SINCE MOTHER IS THERE
Copyright 1937 by the Stamps-Baxter Music Company
Words by Blanche C. Patterson
Music by Luther L. Lovett

Dark are the windows, no flickering glow
Lights up the old house that we used to know;
But in the darkness a sweet face so fair
Smiles down from heaven for mother is there.

        Heaven is nearer since mother is there,
        Heaven is dearer since mother is there;
        Earth ties are broken and heav'n is more fair,
        Heaven is nearer since mother is there.

Oft when the shadows of eventide fall,
I seem to hear her voice tenderly call;
In words familiar, "Let us come now to prayer,"
I kneel in rev'rence and mother is there.

O how I miss her sweet voice and her smile,
Yet, I shall see her again after while;
With our dear Savior, I know she will wait
With a glad welcome just inside the gate

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 08:41 PM

Rocking Alone In An Old Rocking Chair.
Pictures From Life's Other Side.
I Want To Shake Hands With Mother.
I Dreamed About Mama Last Night.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 06:13 PM

Pal Of My Cradle Days

Lyr/Chords Req: Pal Of My Cradle Days

Also, there's the old Al Jolson hit "MY MAMMY," as well as "IN A SHANTY IN OLD SHANTY TOWN" and Dolly Parton's autobiographical "COAT OF MANY COLORS" and Paul McCartney's tribute to his own dear departed mother, "LET IT BE."

The second verse (chorus?) to M-O-T-H-E-R goes:
"M" is for the mercy she possesses,
"O" means that I owe her all I own.
"T" is for her tender, sweet caresses,
"H" is for those hands that made a home.
"E's" for everything she did to help me,
"R" means real and regular was she.
Put them all together, they spell "Mother,"
A name that means the world to me.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Genie
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:59 PM

How about "MY MOTHER'S BIBLE,"
"THAT WONDERFUL MOTHER OF MINE,"
or "TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL?"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: wilco
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 05:56 PM

" One we hear around here all the time are "IF I COULD HEAR MY MOTHER PRAY AGAIN" and "MEDALS FOR MOTHERS."

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE BLOSSOM
From: GUEST,Newfiegirl...Little Blossem..
Date: 23 Oct 02 - 12:53 PM

LITTLE BLOSSOM

Oh dear, I'm so tired and lonesome! I wonder why Mamma don't come.
She told me to shut up my pretty blue eyes, and before I'd wake up she'd be home.
She said she was going to see Grandma. She lives by the river so bright.
I suspect that my Mamma fell in there, and perhaps she won't be home tonight.

I guess I'm afraid to stay up here without any fire or light,
But God's lit the lamps up in Heaven. I see them all twinkling and bright.
I think I'll go down to meet Papa. I suppose then he stopped at the store.
It's a great pretty store full of bottles. I wish he wouldn't go there anymore.

Sometimes he is sick when he comes home. He stumbles and falls up the stairs,
And once when he entered the parlor, he kicked at my poor little chair.
And Mamma was so pale and frightened, she hugged me up close to her breast.
She'd call me her poor little Blossom. I guess I've forgotten the rest.

But I remember that Papa was angry. His face was so red and so wild;
And I remember he struck at poor Mamma, and hurt his poor little child.
So out in the street went the baby, her little heart beating with fright,
Until she reached that gin parlor, all radiant with music and light.
But I love him and I guess I'll go find him. Perhaps he'll come home with me soon;
And then it won't be dark and lonely, waiting for Mamma to come.

Her little hand pushed the door open, though her touch was light as a breath.
Her little feet entered the parlor that leads but to ruin and death.
"Oh Papa," she cried as she reached him, though her voice rippled out sweet and clear,
"I thought if I come I would find you. Now I'm so glad that I'm here.

"The lights are so pretty, dear Papa. I think the music is sweet.
I guess it must be suppertime, Papa, for Blossom wants something to eat.
A moment his blared eyes gazed wildly, down into her face sweet and fair,
And then a demon possessed him, his grasp for the back of a chair.

A moment, a second, it was over, the work of defend was complete.
And poor little innocent Blossom lay quivering and crushed at his feet.
Then swift as a light, came his reason, and showed him the deed he had done.
With a groan that the Devil might pity, he knelt by the quivering form.

He pressed her pale face to his bosom. He lifted her fair golden head.
A moment the baby's lips trembled, and poor little Blossom was dead.
Then in came the law so majestic, and swore with his life he must pay.
He was only a fiend or a madman, to murder a child in that way.

The man who had sold him the poison made him a demon of hell.
Sure he must be loved and respected, because he had license to sell.
They may rob you of friends and of money, send you to predication and woe;
But as long as they pay for their license, the law must protect them, you know.

God pity the women and children who are under the judgment run
And hasten the day when against it neither heart, voice nor pen shall be dunned.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 07 Sep 98 - 03:18 PM

There is an old book of poetry entitled "Heartthrobs", which is a rich mine of such materials. I do not have it to hand, but remember a mother's reference to wine as "the adder's kiss". (Happily my own parents were not Prohibitionists and did not engage in such Calvinist austerities as water-drinking, but they did have the book about the house.)

Are there not any songs about wicked mothers, other than in the much older ballads like The Flower of Serving Men? Could Victorian mothers have been so uniformly sweet?

A few years back someone in Cape Breton released a 45 of a recitation about his greedy and ill-tempered mother, entitled "Tanks Ma, Bye". I distinctly remember that the mother took the last piece of pie for herself. This is similar to a song I once heard on a Grand Ole Opry repeat on PBS, where the singer complained that the reason he was so short was because his family would never let him eat the last potato.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I WAS A WEE WEE TOT
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Sep 98 - 12:58 AM

There's a tune to that, Jack, and a moral...

When I was a wee wee tot,
My mother put me on my wee wee pot
To see if I would wee or not,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee pot
And put me in my wee wee cot
And there I wee wee'd quite a lot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

She took me from my wee wee cot
And hit me on my wee wee bot
'Cause I'd not wee wee'd in the pot,
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee.

Something like that anyway.
B*
Barbara

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 27-Sep-02.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Jack Hickman
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 08:24 PM

And then there's that classic Mother's Day poem:

My Mother:

She took me out of my nice warm cot
And sat me down on the cold cold pot
And made me go whether I had to or not
My Mother.

Jack Hickman

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: gargoyle
Date: 05 Sep 98 - 02:13 PM

OUR MOTHERS

Voices from the Dust Bowl

Mrs. Mary Sullivan

Library of Congress Collection

Real Audio

Our Mothers

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S LAST SONG (Bryan Waller Proctor)
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 01:11 AM

THE MOTHER'S LAST SONG
(Bryan Waller Proctor)

Sleep! The ghostly winds are blowing!
No moon abroad - no star is glowing:
The river is deep, and the tide is flowing
To the land where you and I are going!
We are going afar,
Beyond moon or star,
To the land where the sinless angels are!

I lost my heart to you heartless sire,
("Twas melted away by his looks of fire)
Forgot my God, and my father's ire,
All for the sake of a man's desire;
But now wee'll go
Where the waters flow,
And make us a bed where none shall know.

The world is cruel - the world is untrue;
Our foes are many, our friends are few;
No work, no bread, however we sue!
what is there left for me to do,
But fly -fly
From the cruel sky,
And hide in the deepest deeps - and die!

Subject: Lyr Add: GRANDPA AND HIS 'DEAR'^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 30 Aug 98 - 12:52 AM

Grandpa and his 'Dear'

Can anyone say what fun there is
In the thoughtless use of a gun
Which takes its aim at an innocent life,
And, lo! that life is done?

The merry, happy warblin birds
Though roguish they may be,
The song they sing is pleasanter far
Than the bang of a gun - to me

"When I was a boy, " said Grandpa Grey,
"I thought, ' Now, like a man,
I'll take my gun to the field, and bag
As many birds as I can'

"So off I went, and I banged away,
With no thought of the pain I gave,
Till I presently met a sweet young miss
Trying one bird to save.

It had fallen near with a wounded wing,
And the look in her face so sad
Went straight to my heart, and I felt ashamed
Of myself for a heartless lad.

"Well, after that, I never could aim
At an innocent bird again,
But-I took to hunting after the 'dear'
And I did not hunt in vain;
For I've captured one, and I've never-ceased
To love and cherish my 'dear;'
And if you want to see her boys,
Why, look at your grandmother here."

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 22 Aug 98 - 10:48 PM

The way I heard it on an album called "Bawdy Songs Go to College":

M is for the many times you made me
O is for the other times you tried
T is for those tawdry frat house weekends
H is for the hell that's in your eyes
E is for your everlasting passion
R is for the ruin you made of me

Put them all together, they spell M O T H E R
And that's just what I think I'm going to be.

Response:

F is for your friendly correspondence
A is for my answer to your note
T is for the tearful sad occasion
H is for your hope I'll be the goat
E is for the ease with which I made you
R is for the rube you think I'll be

Put them all together, they spell F A T H E R
And that's a rap you'll never pin on me.

(Pretty obnoxious song, n'est-ce pas?)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 20 Aug 98 - 03:41 AM

Gawd, did I write elegy when I meant eulogy? They're gonna get me for that on the "Pedantry" thread.--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 11:36 PM

Digging deep into the fraternity depths, I've come up
with:

M is for the many times you made me;
O is for the other times you tried.
T is for those tourist cabiin parties,
H is for the hell we raised inside.
E is for the ease with which you had me
R is for the Wreck (sic) you made of me...

put them all together, they spell MOTHER
And a mother, brother, is what you've made of me

Now, for extra credit, does anyone remember the
sequel? It started F is for your foolish little letter,
and spelled out FATHER.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 03:35 PM

A note on Cameron's posting of "fallen" women tearjerkers: The verse is the first eight lines; the chorus begins with the title, "She is more to be pitied than censured."

There is another verse, about the girl's funeral, with the words of the chorus coming as the preacher's elegy. The song is on the digitrad (I looked it up last night and was planning to post it here, but Cameron beat me to it).

The song was in one of the books we had in the home when I was growing up in the thirties and forties. Another contemporary (1880s, I think) song you'd like if you like this sort is "Take Back Your Gold." Here's the chorus. If anyone has the verses, please add them. They're not in the trad.

Take back your gold, for gold will never buy me;
Take back your bribe and promise you'll be true.
Give me the love, the love that you denied me--
Make me your wife; that's all I ask of you.

--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Dale Rose
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 04:21 AM

I just entered Mother Was A Lady in a new thread, copied from the 1896 sheet music. I have never heard any version that indicated that one of the drummers was her brother, only that the one tormentor knew him well. No telling what changes may have made over the last 102 years by those who sing it, though!

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 98 - 01:04 AM

Last year in a thread discussion, I brought up the song Mother Was A Lady, (I think as an example of a waitress, in working songs) and someone responded that there was an additional verse in which one of the drummers turned out to be her brother Jack that she was looking for. Does anyone have the rest of the lyrics?

alice in montana

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Cameron
Date: 18 Aug 98 - 03:57 PM

A subcategory of the sentimental mother-ballads were songs about mothers and their daughters who had "fallen to shame". These were tremendously popular in the music halls along the Bowery in the 19th century.

I quote the following from Luc Sante's book _Low Life_, which I enthusiastically recommend to anyone interested in 19th century Americana, and the seamier side of New York City in particular:

"The kind of song that went over best with the thieves, murderers, extortionists and their assorted muscle was the sentimental ballad. The tune that supposedly launched Izzy Baline's career at Sualter's was Arthur Lamb and Harry von Tilzer's 'The Mansion of Aching Hearts':

She lives in the mansion of aching hearts,
She's one of the restless throng;
The diamonds that glitter around her throat,
They speak both of sorrow and song;
The smile on her face is only a mask
And many's the tear that starts,
For sadder it seems, when of mother she dreams,
In the mansion of aching hearts.

"The repertoire was topheavy with such laments of the strayed remembering their kindly old mothers. There was James Thornton's 'She May Have Seen Better Days':

While strolling along with the city's vast throng,
On a night that was bitterly cold,
I noticed a crowd who were laughing aloud
At something they chanced to behold.
I stopped to see what the object could be,
And there, on a doorstep, lay
A woman in tears from the crowd's angry jeers
And then I heard someone say:
She may have seen better days, when she was in her prime;
She may have seen better days, once upon a time.
Tho' by the wayside she fell, she may yet mend her ways.
Some poor mother is waiting for her who has seen better days.

"And Charles Graham's 'The Picture that is Turned Toward the Wall':

There's a name that's never spoken
And a mother's heart half broken,
There is just another missing from the old home, that's all;
There is still a mem'ry living,
And a father unforgiving,
And a picture that is turn'd toward the wall.

"And William B. Gray's 'She is More to be Pitied than Censured':

At the old concert hall on the Bowery
'Round the table were seated one night
A crowd of young fellows carousing,
With them life seemed cheerful and bright.
At the very next table was seated
A girl who had fallen to shame;
And the young fellows jeered at her weakness,
Till they heard an old woman exclaim:
She is more to be pitied than censured,
She is more to be helped than despised,
She is only a lassie who ventured
On life's stormy path, ill advised.
Do not scorn her with words fierce and bitter,
Do not laugh at her shame and downfall;
For a moment just stop and consider
That a man was the cause of it all.

"And 'Just Tell Them that You Saw Me,' by Paul Dresser, Theodore Dreiser's older brother; the lachrymose 'Just Break the News to Mother,' of Civil War vintage; 'A Violet for Her Mother's Grave'; 'A Bird in a Gilded Cage' about the sorrows of a kept woman; 'Mother was a Lady, or If only Jack were Here'; 'Gold Will Buy Most Anything but a True Girl's Heart'; 'Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl'; 'With All Her Faults I Love Her Still'; 'Just for the Sake of Our Daughter'; 'You Made Me What I am Today - I Hope You're Satisfied'; and the immortal 'Teach Our Baby that I'm Dead.' These songs must have performed some sort of expiatory function; the mind boggles at the spectacle of garrote artists weeping at songs about shame, white slavers sobbing at the tribulations of white slaves, ear-chewers remembering their white-haired mothers."

Cameron.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER O' MINE^^
From: gargoyle
Date: 17 Aug 98 - 09:17 PM

Mother O' Mine
(Words by Rudyard Kipling, Music by Frank E. Tours)
Copyright by Chappel & Co. Ltd. MCMII
By permission of Miss Louis Sington, to whom Mr. Kipling assigned the exclusive rights of the original settings.

If I - were hang'd on the high -est hill,
Mother, o' Mine,
I know whose love - woulsd fol-low me still, -
Moth-er o'Mine. -

If I wer drown'd in the deep-est sea, -
Moth-er o' Mine,
I know whose tears would come down to me, -
Moth-er o' Mine, Moth-er o' Mine.

If I were damned of body and soul,
I know whose pray'rs - would make me whole
I know whose pray'rs - would me me whole
Moth -er o' Mine,
O, - Mother -er o' Mine.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 08:30 AM

I haven't checked the entire thread, but a couple of great "mother" songs are:

NEVER HIT YOUR GRANDMA WITH A SHOVEL (it leaves a bad impression on her mind)

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER

Bob S.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From:
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 07:03 AM

There is also the college fraternity song to the same tune:

"M" is for the many times you made me,
"O" is for the other times you tried but couldn't.
"T" is for the times....

It will taking some digging around (VERY deep) for the rest.

Subject: Lyr Add: M-O-T-H-E-R: A WORD THAT MEANS THE WORLD…
From: gargoyle
Date: 13 Aug 98 - 01:36 AM

Truly, I believed that THIS above all others would be the first one to be posted. A search of DT doesn’t show it there.

I PROMISE to learn ANSI and MIDI postings via the tutorials on this site. Future contributions will include the “correct” format.


Eva Tanguay’s Great “Mother” song
M-O-T-H-E-R: A word that means the world to me
(Words by Howard Johnson, music by Theodore Morse)
Copyright MCMXV (1915) by Leo Feist
Published Teller, Sons & Dorner, New York
London: Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew, Limited

VERSE 1: I’ve been around the world, you bet, But never went to school.
Hard knocks are all I seem to get. Perhaps I’ve been a fool.
But still, some educated folks, supposed to be so swell,
Would fail, if they were called upon a simple word to spell.
Now, if you’d like to put me to a test,
There’s one dear name that I can spell the best:

CHORUS 1: “M” is for the million things she gave me.
“O” means only that she’s growing old.
“T” is for the tears were shed to save me.
“H” is for her heart of purest gold.
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining.
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

VERSE 2: When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,
While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk.
It wasn’t long before I spoke, and all the neighbors heard,
My folks were very proud of me, for “Mother” was the word.
Although I’ll never lay a claim to fame,
I’m satisfied that I can spell this name:

CHORUS 2: “M” is for the mercy she possesses.
“O” means that I owe her all I own.
“T” is for her tender sweet caresses.
“H” is for her hands that made a home.
“E” means ev’rything she’s done to help me.
“R” means real and regular, you see.
Put them all together, they spell “MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

Subject: Lyr Add: LEAVING NANCY (Eric Bogle)^^
From: Moira Cameron
Date: 12 Aug 98 - 09:40 PM

Well, after e-mailing a friend and waiting for the response, I finally have the lyrics to the Eric Bogle song he wrote about leaving his mother. (I had mentioned it, oh--quite a while back--but I didn't have the lyrics.)

Here they are:

Leaving Nancy
Eric Bogle

In comes the train, and its long black shape
Stops with a shudder and screaming of brakes.
Parting is hard; my weary soul aches;
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, determinedly gay,
And talk of the weather and events of the day.
But your eyes tell me all your tongue cannot say.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

The suitcase is lifted and stowed on the train,
A thousand regrets turn around in my brain.
The ache in my heart is a black seed of pain.
I'm leaving you, Nancy-O.

But you stand there so calm, so lovely to see,
The grip of your hand is an unspoken plea.
You're not fooling yourself, and you're not fooling me,
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

But the whistle has blown, and the time is all gone,
And he who must leave you is standing alone.
There's so little time, and now it's all gone.
Good-bye, my Nancy-O.

And as the train starts gently to roll,
I lean out the window to wave and to call,
And I see the first tear trickle and fall.
Goodbye, my Nancy-O.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one more time before the whistle blows.

Then come a little closer, put your head upon my shoulder.
Let me hold you one last time before the whistle blows.

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT, DEAR FATHER^^^
From:
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 08:25 AM

BSeed, I don't know 'Little Blossom' but I found a similar song in my database called 'Don't Go Out Tonight, Dear Father', which is on the Free Reed CD 'The Tale of Ale' that first came out as an LP in 1976. The notes (by Vic Gammon) say: "A temperance song from the mid-nineteenth century. Peter Davison has commented that 'temperance songs offer a perverse delight very different from the sober instruction their authors intended'. Such songs were often taken up by the music halls and sung with mock seriousness. [...] We include these temperance items to show we are not biased and to give the other side of the case."

DON'T GO OUT TONIGHT DEAR FATHER

Don't go out tonight dear father
Don't refuse this once I pray
Tell your comrades mother's dying
Soon her soul will pass away
Tell them too, of darling Willie
Him we also much do love
How his little form is drooping
Soon to bloom again above

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Tell me that you love dear mama
Lying in that cold cold room
You don't love your comrades better
Cursing there in that saloon

Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see
Oh dear father do not leave us
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Papa won't be there to see

Morning found the little pleader
Cold and helpless on the floor
Lying where he madly struck her
On that chilly night before
Lying there with hands uplifted
Feebly uttering words of prayer
Heavenly father please forgive him
Reunite us all up there

Don't go out tonight dear father
Think oh think how sad 'twill be
When the angels come to take her
Father won't be there to see

The tune is a worthy match to the words. Sorry, but I have no means of reproducing it. Try to get the CD if you're really interested. Or maybe someone else has it? - Susanne

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 07 Aug 98 - 12:48 AM

That's a real tearjerker, all right. Right up there with

Grandmaw's in the cellar,
Oh, lordy, can't you smell her,
Baking biscuits on her danged old dirty stove.
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles while the (sniff) runs down her nose.

--seed

Subject: Lyr Add: YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY^^^
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 12:12 AM

YE CANNA SHOVE YER GRANNY

Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny,
'Cause she's your mammy's mammy,
Oh, ya cannot shove your granny off a bus!

Got this from Sandy Paton---1959---on his old LP for Electra "The Many Sides of Sandy Paton". Sandy never liked this album very much, although I always thought it was a great recording. More than 30 years later he was visiting us in Illinois and I got him to sign it for me. (Didn't want to, but he did.)This record contains the FIRST recording of "Wild Mountain Thyme" on the American folk scene. They made Sandy cut a verse 'cause it would've been too long for radio play. Fred Hellerman--The Weavers---is the uptown-sounding guitar backing up Sandy here.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: BSeed
Date: 05 Aug 98 - 12:23 AM

And of course there's "ALL MY TRIALS"--or did someone already mention this one:

Hush little baby, don't you cry-- You know your momma is bound to die, All my sorrows, Lord, soon be over.

Is that one on the database?--seed

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Laura
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 10:19 PM

Thanks for the words folks, they're really helpful!

Subject: Lyr Add: JUST A FEW MORE DAYS^^
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 08:47 PM

That's right, Bert!

Here's another "Mother Song" as done on "Gospel Songs by The Carter Family in Texas, Volume 3" and also done by Suzanne Thomas of Dry Branch Fire Squad:

Just a Few More Days
As Done by The Carter Family

  
G  
Not so long ago one morning  
C			    G  
Mother called me to her bed  
  
Then she threw her arms around me  
		D7  
Listen to the words she said:  
	G  
    Darling I am going to leave you  
	C			  G  
	But you'll not be left alone  
  
	Jesus will protect and shield you  
		         D7	    G  
	After he has carried me home.  

(Chorus)
Just a few more days of sorrow
Just a few more days of pain
Just a few more days of cloud'ness
Just a few more days of rain
Then I'm going to live with Jesus
He has got a home prepared
Then I'll join the holy angels
Mother will be waiting there.

Sometimes I'm sorely tempted
Sometimes I am sorely tired
But to overcome I'm trying
Taking Jesus as my guide
Oh, sometimes the past seems rugged
But it only makes me praise
And I know if I keep trying
I'll see my mother some sweet day.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Bert C.
Date: 04 Aug 98 - 11:45 AM

I believe the verse for "Circle" that Barbara posted on 7/28 came from the Dirt Band's "Circle II" album.