About
Key C, Tempo 62
May 2022
This was a new song written during Mother’s Day Weekend in May of 2022. On Friday of that weekend, I was playing some of the music videos of my songs for my mother Wilma. I did not anticipate her reaction to “My Mom, the PhD”, a song I had written for my future mother-in-law Barbara back in 1984. My mom was genuinely angry, asking why I had not written a song for HER. So, that weekend I worked every second I could on this song, which I wanted to play for her that Sunday, proving once again that I really did love her above all other mothers. I had spent a lot of time around Mom through the years, and collected her poems and stories into a volume called “Stories From My Heart”. I had also made a few short videos documenting key points in her life. As a result, I had no shortage of material for the lyrics, and so they came together very quickly.
For the music, I knew I wanted a big, heartfelt southern rock ballad in the style of The Marshall Tucker Band or the Allman Brothers Band, and in the end I think I came up with something that is very appropriate and also very reverential to its roots. This was another song where I was able to accurately reproduce the sounds in my head, vs. settling for something close.
When I played this for mom, I also did not expect her reaction. She was actually a little miffed that with these lyrics, I had demonstrated that I was a better poet than her. In time she has walked back from that position, and I think each time I play it for her, she likes it more and more.