'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: SINSULL
Date: 28 Dec 02 - 02:52 PM

Tune Frank?

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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,.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: 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,ragdall
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 09:42 PM

My Mother's Bible
Words by M.B. Williams, Music by Charles Davis Tillman, 1893

This song always brings tears to my eyes, both because of the words and because my mother used to hold me in her lap and sing it to me when I was very young. Sometimes she sang in English, sometimes in another language.

Subject: Lyr Add: SONNY'S DREAM (Ron Hynes)
From: JennyO
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:55 AM

Pogo, here is the song you were looking for, as well as some info. It was in the DT.

SONNY'S DREAM
(Ron Hynes)

Sonny lives on a farm on a wide open space
Where you can take off your sneakers and give up the race
You could lay down your head by a sweet river bed
But Sonny always remembers what it was his Mama said

Sonny carries a load though he's barely a man
There ain't all that to do, still he does what he can
And he watches the sea from a room by the stairs
And the waves keep on rollin', they've done that for years

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

And it's a hundred miles to town, Sonny's never been there
And he goes to the highway and stands there and stares
And the mail comes at four and the mailman is old
Oh, but he still dreams his dreams full of silver and gold

Sonny's dreams can't be real, they're just stories he's read
They're just stars in his eyes, they're just dreams in his head
And he's hungry inside for the wide world outside
And I know I can't hold him though I've tried and I've tried

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

(Sung by Ron Hynes on the album: "Living in a Fog"
by the Wonderful Grand Band 1981)

Definitely written by Ron Hynes. It originally appeared on
a Ron Hynes solo album (long since deleted) in the late seventies.
Hamish Imlach made up some additional lyrics and added them
after hearing the song (perhaps incomplete) during a
tour of Canada some time in the mid-eighties. This version was
then passed on to Christy Moore and then to Mary Black etc.
Ron Hynes recorded another solo album "Cryer's Paradise" in 1993.
He currently lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada.


I've always known it with another verse at the end. I guess these were the additional lyrics by Hamish Imlach referred to above.

Many years have rolled on, Sonny's old and alone
His Daddy the sailor, never came home
Sometimes he wonders what his life might have been
But from the grave Mamma still haunts his dreams.

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: emjay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 06:18 PM

I guess I should look in the DT before I post, but I was thinking of "THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD." I can't remember if it was mother's body in the coach. I have the words in a scrapbook an aunt kept long, long ago.

If it isn't in the DT, I'll try to find and post those words.

I was surprised it took so long for someone to post THE LETTER EDGED IN BLACK with its line:

Come home my boy,
Your poor old father wants you,
Come home my boy
Your dear old mother's dead.

At least it is in the DT, and I've spent so much time trying to remember those words.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,joesblondie
Date: 17 May 05 - 02:56 PM

my mother used to sing a song to me when I was a little girl and it made me cry every time. The song is "I'M TYING THE LEAVES SO THEY WON'T COME DOWN". Could someone please send me the lyrics? I'd so appreciate this. Thanks in advance

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Allen
Date: 17 May 05 - 03:38 PM

I wish I could remember the title, but there's a terrific Russian song about a prisoner writing to his mama, a tearjerker with capital T.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Beer
Date: 17 May 05 - 10:34 PM

Wow!! Late getting on this thread and probably didn't read them completely. Leaving Nancy by Eric bogle is one of my favourites. Thanks
Cameron. Didn't know he did that one. I thought that song was about a young fellow leaving his sweetheart and going to war.
how about: MOTHER THE QUEEN OF MY HEART". May have been mentioned.And "MOMMY PLEASE STAY HOME WITH ME". May not be the correct title.
Beer.

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD (G. L. Davis)
From: Scoville
Date: 17 May 05 - 11:38 PM

Lyrics below are from the sheet music at the University of Maine:

IN THE BAGGAGE COACH AHEAD
Words and music by Gussie L. Davis, ©1896.

1.On a dark stormy night as the train rattled on, all the passengers had gone to bed,
Except one young man with a babe in his arms who sat there with a bowed-down head.
The innocent one began crying just then, as though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise, for it's keeping all of us awake."
"Put it out," said another. "Don't keep it in here; we've paid for our berths and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child, as he fondled it close to his breast.
"Where is its mother? Go take it to her," this a lady then softly said.
"I wish that I could," was the man's sad reply. "But she's dead in the coach ahead."

CHORUS: While the train rolled onward, a husband sat in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years,
For baby's face brings pictures of a cherished hope that’s dead,
But baby's cries can't waken her in the baggage coach ahead.

2. Ev’ry eye filled with tears when his story he told, of a wife who was faithful and true.
He told how he'd saved all his earnings for years, just to build up a home for two;
How when Heaven had sent them this sweet little babe, their young happy lives were blessed.
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name, and in tears tried to tell them the rest.
Ev’ry woman arose to assist with the child; there were mothers and wives on that train,
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace, with no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at a station he bade all goodbye; "God bless you," he softly said.
Each one had a story to tell in the home of the baggage coach ahead.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,J Harshman
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 12:09 PM

Here's the way I learned it:

My mother was a lady, the urge you would allow.
You may have a sister who needs protection now.
I came to this great city to find my brother dear.
You wouldn't dare insult me, sir, if brother Jack were here.

The youth sat there in silence, his head bowed down in shame.
"Excuse me miss, I meant no harm. Pray tell me, what's your name."
She told him and he cried "Alas! I know your brother true.
For we've been friends for many, many years, and he often speaks of you.
So come with me when I go there, and if you'll only wed,
I'll take you to hiim as my bride, for I've loved you since you said,

'My mother was a lady, the urge you would allow.
You may have a sister who needs protection now.
I came to this great city to find my brother dear.
You wouldn't dare insult me, sir, if brother Jack were here."

I always wondered if "the urge you would allow" wasn't right. Perhaps it should be "and yours I would allow."

I've been trying to remember another song my grandmother sang to me - there were three - "My Mother Was a Lady" "The Skinniest Man" and another one I can't remember.
J

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 08:17 PM

J Harshman: "Like yours, you will allow", I believe.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Pretense must be more perfect than performance. :||

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 06 - 02:29 PM

Does anybody know the words or, even better, have the sheet music to "Just for the Sake of Our Daughter." By the way, there'll be an exhibit this summer at the Smithsonian's Museum of American Art called, "American ABC: Childhood in the 19th Century." Songs like "COME HOME FATHER" and "FATHER'S A DRUNKARD AND MOTHER IS DEAD" are relevant.

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Joybell
Date: 12 May 06 - 06:25 PM

"DON'T STEP ON MOTHER'S ROSES" is here -- there's also "The White Rose". Two of my favourite rose and Mother songs. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,arkansasman2003
Date: 01 Jun 06 - 09:40 PM

im looking for a song we think it is called "mothers hall of fame" but cannot find it...someone told us it was written by a gary simon...please if anyone knows the lyrics let me know please...the last line says something about if there was a mother's hall of fame i'd vote you in because you're head and shoulders above the rest...or something like that

[possibly THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE]

Subject: break the news to mother
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jul 06 - 02:27 PM

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,shanedoyle
Date: 06 Feb 07 - 06:07 PM

hi i am looking for the chords to a mothers loves a blessing i have to sing it tomorrow at my grandmothers funeral

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,carl
Date: 16 May 07 - 01:27 AM

help Im looking for country song that talks about about a boy loving his mother and he ask her to marry him. The song goes through the whole boys life and either the mom dies or the son dies.

The song is in the last ten years I think

Can anyone help

Really desperate

Thanks

Carl

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 04:39 AM

writer unknown: My grandmother - born 1890 in North GA mountains, would sing this tear jerker to us:

O Father do not bid me come
to meet your new-made bride
I could not greet her in the room
where my dear mother died.

Her picture's hanging on the wall
Her books are lying there.
And there's the harp her fingers played
And there's her vacant chair.

The chair by which I used to kneel
to say my evening prayer
O father do not bid me come (??? )
I cannot greet her there ( ??? )

[See THE BLIND CHILD'S PRAYER.]

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Glenda M.
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 08:56 PM

I was looking for the song "ALWAYS IN THE WAY" I found it here, but the words are not exactly like my mothers remembers it. Her mother used to sing it to her when she was a little girl.

Does anyone know where I could get the music for this song?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER'S NOT DEAD (SHE'S ONLY A-SLEEPING)
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Dec 07 - 06:39 PM

MOTHER'S NOT DEAD (SHE'S ONLY A-SLEEPING)
Recorded by: Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners
Writer: Charlie Monroe

CAPO: 1st FRET/KEY: G#/PLAY: G

[G] I Left my old home way back in the [D7] mountains
Mother was called to heaven that [G] day
They carried my mother up to the [D7] graveyard
Ev'rything's lonesome since she went a-[G] way.

CHORUS: [G] Mother's Not Dead, she's only a-[D7] sleeping
Just patiently waiting for Jesus to [G] come
The birds will be singing while mother lies [D7] sleeping
They will sing o'er her as the grave fades a-[G] way.

Nothing seems right around the old home place
Even the place where we used to play
I love my old home way back in the mountains
But ev'rything's changed since she went away. CHORUS

Mother was good and now she's in heaven
She was the best pal a boy ever had
I still love my home way back in the mountains
But without you mother, a heart aches so sad. CHORUS

SOURCE:
BLUEGRASS FOR COLLECTORS/Various Artists
1980 RCA Camden ACL-7081

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,wendy
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 09:59 AM

Does anyone know all the lyrics to the tearjerkers my mother used to sing?

1.
"Mother when I go to heaven
Will the angels let me play?
Just because I am a cripple
Will they say I'm in the way?"

2.
"her young life must go when the last leaves fall...
So I'm tying the leaves so they won't come down,
So Nellie won't go away."

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: open mike
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:01 PM

May 11 will be Mother's Day here in the States, and I will be hosting my monthly radio show that day.

Here are some songs I have played on previous Mother's Day shows: (listed as I do for radio with Artist, title, label and website)

Jimmie_Rodgers_Mother,Queen_of_my_Heart_AmericanLegends_
Laser_Light/Stanyan_
Jimmie_Rodgers_Gambler's_Blues_American_Legends_Laser_Light/Delta_
www.jimmierodgers.com (Sept. 8, 1897-May 26,1933)
Nancy Pyle_Mamma's_got the Know_How_Singing'and Swingin' w/Nancy   
Bruce_Holmes_Angels_Life is an Intelligence Test_Haven Music
www.bruceholmes.com__http://www.myspace.com/bruceholmes_
Gillian_Welch_Orphan_Girl_Revival_Almo_www.gillianwelch.com_
http://www.onamrecords.com/home.html_
Dave_Carter,_Tracy_Grammer_When_I_Go_When_I_Go_SELF
http://www.daveandtracy.com/_http://tracygrammer.com/
Janet_Bates_Women_in_Black_Colours_Will_Come_Back_Self_
www.janetbates.com_see her song Mother's Day_
www.womeninblack.org_www.womeninblack.net

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 12:25 PM

Here you go Wendy:
http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/feltslittle1255.html

Looks like one I have to learn.
SINS

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:05 PM

A recording of Tying the Leaves:
http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jones_grandpa/albums.jhtml?albumId=129769

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:14 PM

The Sweetest Gift, A Mother's Smile:

   http://www.mudcat.org/Detail.CFM?messages__Message_ID=31859

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: topical tom
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:20 PM

An extra verse to "A Mother's Smile here

Subject: Lyr Add: JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE MOTHER
From: GUEST,The Mole catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 01:40 PM

Just Before The Battle, Mother.

Just before the battle, mother,
I am thinking most of you,
While upon the field we're watching
With the enemy in view.
Comrades brave are 'round me lying,
Filled with thoughts of home and God
For well they know that on the morrow,
Some will sleep beneath the sod.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your breast again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain.

Oh, I long to see you, mother,
And the loving ones at home,
But I'll never leave our banner,
Till in honor I can come.
Tell the traitors all around you
That their cruel words we know,
In every battle kill our soldiers
By the help they give the foe.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your breast again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain

Hark! I hear the bugles sounding,
'Tis the signal for the fight,
Now, may God protect us, mother,
As He ever does the right.
Hear the "Battle-Cry of Freedom,"
How it swells upon the air,
Oh, yes, we'll rally 'round the standard,
Or we'll perish nobly there.

CHORUS:
Farewell, mother, you may never
Press me to your heart again,
But, oh, you'll not forget me, mother,
If I'm numbered with the slain.


- George F. Root (c. 1864)


Charlotte (awaits the return of loved ones from the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,K Goodwin
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 05:08 PM

A question for guest J. Harshman. You mentioned a song "The Skinniest Man" My grandmother sang a song about the skinniest man she ever saw that come from Hokenspoken. I wandered if this would by chance be the same song...?

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: Snuffy
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 09:00 PM

Forgive me, Charlotte, but I couldn't help get a fleeting image of "the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: fumblefingers
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 01:39 AM

This tearjerker takes a bit of careful listening.

Drunkard's plea

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: banjoman
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 08:06 AM

Surprised nobody mentioned Hank Williams who has a number of "Mother" songs including "MOTHER IS GONE"

"WHEN GOD COMES AND GATHERS HIS JEWELS"

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 11:28 AM

"Forgive me, Charlotte, but I couldn't help get a fleeting image of "the wars on Ma and Pa's piano stool"

My husband is in Afghanistan with the Canadian Armed Forces

Charlotte (the view from ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: Lyr Add: NEEDLE AND THREAD (Henry Clements)
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:16 PM

Needle and Thread by Henry Clements (HenryClem)

This is a simply brilliant anti war song that saves the punch till the very last line. There's usually a shocked silence when I finish, then thunderous applause - for Henry

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she patched your dungarees
She said you were a terror, Jack, forever climbing trees
The bumps and scrapes and bruises, Jack, she'd ease your cares away
She'd patch you and your trousers, Jack, and wave you out to play

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as your blazer badge she sewed
You'd passed to go to Grammar, Jack, what pride your mother showed
But the uniform was costly, Jack, came with such sacrifice
But she dressed you up so smartly, Jack, wouldn't have it otherwise

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, machining gloves for pence
Her fingers worn to leather, Jack, that you might have a chance
She toiled that you might study, Jack, she sewed that you might reap
And if she seems old already, Jack, she's given you her sleep.

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she polishes your shoes
She's pressed the suit she gave you jack, for important interviews
She said it didn't matter, Jack, when there were no jobs to be found
Things would soon get better, Jack, but you couldn't hang around

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, the day that you left home
You'd signed to be a soldier, Jack, though to her you're hardly grown
And she's written you such letters, Jack, though she had no news at all
She was knitting you a sweater, Jack, when the Captain came to call

I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, as she polishes your shoes
She's pressed the suit she gave you jack, for important interviews
Too many bumps and bruises, Jack, and no more trees to climb
I'm thinking of your mother, Jack, she's dressed you one last time

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: SINSULL
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:20 PM

HELLO, CENTRAL, GIVE ME HEAVEN (for my Mommy's there)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:21 PM

NEEDLE AND THREAD by Henry Clements

but does it qualify under the thread title...?
'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 18 Mar 08 - 12:25 PM

but does it qualify under the thread title...?
'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety

Err... sorry? It's a song about a mother laying out her dead son. No -silly me, my mistake!