Comments on: Mother

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:02:07 +0000

John Lennons greatest vocal performance. What an opening this song is for the great Plastic Ono Band album. I know the single version is slightly different but either way the song is a masterpiece. It encapsulates more than any other song the pain brought to the surface by the Primal therapy.It was so poignant on the film Nowhere Boy when it shows Lennon singing this song in concert.

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:13:39 +0000

One of John Lennons greatest songs and what an opening the album version is to The Plastic Ono Band record. One of his greatest vocal performances encapsulating all the pain that the Primal Therapy with Dr Arthur Janov had brought to the surface. This song is a chilling testament to the mans genius. It is so moving on the film Nowhere Boywhen at the end it cuts to a live version of John Lennon singing this.

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 21:30:32 +0000

The song might be about that whole thing in John’s childhood, how he was like 5 and his ever-absent father turned up and wanted John to come live with him. His mother was there too, and wanted John to stay with her. The dad told him to choose. The poor little 5 year old boy picked his dad, the one he never saw and never got any much-yearned-for attention from. His mother protested and told him to choose again, and again he chose his father. So his mother started walking away. Johnny started to cry and ran after her.
When you listen to the song, it seems to coordinate perfectly. “Mama don’t go…Daddy come home.” and to his dad, “You didn’t need me…But I needed you.”
MY GOD THIS IS SO SAD. But John Lennon, man. He’s amazing.

By: carlos

carlos — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 15:33:57 +0000

In my country the single came out a few weeks before the album. I was astoinished when I listened to it for the first time. I was 13 and I remember thinking “Why must this song end so soon ? Then I bought the album (my dad gave me the money) and there were those bells at the beginning and I started to sweat for the emotion, then that endless finale. I was really excited that it was so much longer than the one in the single. Just funny memories. I agree it must have been John´s best singing ever.

By: robert

robert — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:29:27 +0000

I got the album the day it came out – I was 13 – my friends and I went up to my room and when we heard the slow bells, we were like “what the heck is that?” by the time Mother was coming to it’s conclusion we were completely blown away.

We took the needle off the record and played it again before even playing the next tune (Hold On John). We all wanted to make sure we had really heard what we’d heard.

By: Joaco

Joaco — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:58:10 +0000

Very nice comment above, I agree completely. On a side note… if I look at the lineup in this or Instant Karma I can’t help but think they’re “semi-Beatle” records. Klaus, (a fascinating character I learnt about thanks to this site; the closest to a Beatle without being one) and… Ringo? I never knew he took part in this.

By: Tweeze

Tweeze — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:09:43 +0000

This song alone proves to me that John possessed the vocal talent of the Beatles – and practically anyone else. Subject-matter aside there is no one else who could, or even would, try to sing this. It’s not exactly a commercial excursion, is it? When this first came out I was, coincidentally, in music class and someone had brought in a radio. The new ‘John’ song was announced and we quieted to hear it. All I saw were puzzled expressions which, I’m sure’ I had as well. Is this some new direction? Should we actually like this? It was depressing, void, and frightening. No, it was not what we wanted to hear, especially from John. I didn’t want to here it again but I could never forget it either. I got over it. This is an excrutiating song! When you know what it is really about how can you not want to cry? John uses his vocals like a brush and paints a futility in his voice unlike anything before or since. His intentional musical vocal crack on ‘I — wanted you’ has to be genius. It’s somewhere between frustration and almost like he is near tears himself as he lets his guard down to confess what he is really feeling. The rest of the vocals are amazing as well. A seasoned blues singer would be proud to claim these. And then, just when you think we’ve seen John pour his guts out, here comes the finale. He screams his way out of the song – but it isn’t only mindless screaming. A good listen reveals he is actually singing the screams. Absolutely incredible. Much has been contested over which song had the all-time best rock scream and usually The Who take the prize with ‘Baba O’Riley’. Truly, Daltrey’s scream doesn’t even approach the final seconds of this track. I think my daughter said it best when she first heard ‘Mother’. She’d never heard it before and had no idea who was singing it. She said, ‘It sounds like a baby crying.’ Precisely! Very inciteful, my daughter.