0:00

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0:03

following message come from Lagunitas Brewing

0:05

Company, challenging the status quo and

0:07

crafting stories along the way. Featuring

0:09

a wide range of innovative craft

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lagunitas.com. Well,

0:27

Mother's Day is almost here and that's

0:29

got us thinking again about our moms

0:31

and all the things we got

0:33

and learned from them, including music. We

0:36

asked listeners to tell us about a song that

0:38

reminds them of their mom, maybe one their mom

0:40

played or sang all the

0:42

time. This is a question that we've actually

0:44

asked a handful of times over the years

0:46

and we always love hearing what listeners have

0:48

to share. This go-around,

0:51

we were absolutely inundated with song picks

0:53

and stories. This song that

0:55

we're hearing right now, this is Hoagie Carmichael's Stardust.

0:58

It was just one of the tracks that people mentioned. It's

1:01

a beautiful song. I had to play

1:03

it. I am here with NPR Musiques Mitra

1:05

Arthur. Hey Mitra. Hey Robin. Mitra,

1:08

we did this show together that I

1:10

absolutely loved a while back about

1:13

the songs that hit us hard. I've

1:15

wanted to have you back on ever since then, so

1:17

thank you so much for doing this. I'm very happy

1:19

to be here and appreciative of the invite. Well,

1:22

I think this is a good one

1:24

for you because I know you're close to your family.

1:26

I know you love your mom.

1:28

Yes. No music's important to you, so I

1:30

thought of you and I thought, oh, we

1:32

should totally have this conversation. What

1:35

we're going to do is we're just going to share some of the

1:37

stories and songs that we got from listeners.

1:39

People wrote in. They also recorded voice

1:41

memos and they sent those in. We're

1:43

only going to get to a fraction

1:46

of what people submitted. We also have our

1:49

own picks that we're going to share. Mitra, why

1:51

don't you start us off with one of the voice

1:53

memos we got? Yeah. This

1:55

first voice memo we have

1:58

comes from Grace, Alyssa. out in

2:00

Seattle, Washington. We'll let her

2:03

tell you a little bit more about the song

2:05

that she picked is Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. When

2:07

I was in middle school, the song came on the radio

2:09

while we were driving. My mom turned

2:11

it up and started singing. This surprised me

2:14

because I wouldn't classify my mom as a

2:16

Christina Aguilera fan. In fact, she

2:18

was usually turning down her music because she didn't

2:20

like the lyrics. I remember looking

2:22

over at her and noticing that she was tearing up.

2:25

I asked her why, and she said that she

2:27

hadn't been feeling beautiful lately. This was

2:29

around the time she was diagnosed with ovarian

2:31

cancer. She was going through chemotherapy

2:33

and had lost her hair. I

2:35

don't think I really understood how difficult this period

2:37

of my mom's life must have been for her

2:39

until recently. I was a teenager

2:42

when she got sick and she tried really hard to

2:44

protect me from the worst parts of what she was

2:46

going through. I recognize now

2:49

that looking at your 13-year-old daughter in the

2:51

eyes and revealing your fears is a hard

2:53

thing to do. This was one

2:55

of the rare moments during my mom's illness when

2:57

she did that. Thinking back

3:00

on the memory now, I love that it

3:02

was a pop anthem that created this beautiful,

3:04

vulnerable moment for us. Pop music

3:06

just has that power sometimes. It's

3:09

a moment I'll never forget. Every

3:11

day is so

3:14

wonderful It's

3:16

hard for me It's

3:19

hard to breathe Now

3:24

and then I can

3:26

ever give me

3:29

pain to

3:32

keep me I

3:37

am beautiful I am

3:39

beautiful I

3:41

am beautiful I

3:44

am beautiful I am beautiful

3:48

I am beautiful I am beautiful

3:51

Everything away is what you

3:54

can't remember Me

3:58

I am beautiful. The

4:17

Thorn is over twenty years old. That been

4:19

a long time since I heard of our

4:21

virus. Yeah, can you believe it? I still

4:23

suffer for a this but it was so

4:25

good hearing A and in the context of

4:27

her story. Yeah to so moving. And

4:29

yeah, I mean I think I

4:31

was another to seeing this. I

4:33

remember very keenly when it came

4:35

out and how it really did

4:37

give a lot of people a

4:39

sense of power down because it's

4:41

there's a lot of vulnerabilities. In

4:44

feeling comfortable living in your body. As

4:47

it exists Saying that you know

4:49

I'm okay with who I am,

4:51

how I look, how I present

4:53

and I belong here and that

4:55

I and beautiful and that's is

4:57

amplified for someone who's going through

4:59

cancer and other things in the

5:02

changes that are happening to your

5:04

body and I also think about

5:06

is she mentioned the difficulty. Of

5:08

a parent points to protect their cell.

5:10

A mom wanting to protect their child

5:12

from that. ah yeah her mom wanting

5:15

to be strong and reject strange man

5:17

and and not not have her daughter

5:19

were you know I'm here. We heard

5:21

a lot of stories from listeners whose

5:23

moms you know as as sick or

5:26

they passed away from the Swinson and

5:28

from Grace. it wasn't the only one

5:30

the talk about in other moms on

5:32

him and what their months thought of

5:35

themselves in their their self image and

5:37

there are. The idea of their worth

5:39

and I'm particularly as they struggled through a

5:41

rough period. Another source sort of similar song

5:44

that came up with said you are so

5:46

Beautiful moon by Two O'clock or other thing

5:48

that might be a little more wrote a

5:50

Man Yeah, I'm focused on romance, but. i'm

5:54

muskets one of the written comments that we receive

5:56

them we had a form that people could fill

5:58

out and people also emailed us And

6:00

I'll just say just kind of a quick aside

6:02

here about the stories that we got from listeners,

6:04

both the written comments and the voice memos. We

6:07

had to shorten some of them just for time.

6:09

So some of these are edited down a little

6:11

bit. We'd love to be able to play everything,

6:13

but we wanted to be able to get to

6:15

as much as possible. This comment

6:17

we got comes from Belinda in Southern California.

6:20

She writes, my wonderful mother

6:22

raised three kids on her own in

6:24

the late sixties and early seventies. She

6:26

was young, divorced, receiving no financial support,

6:28

going to school while juggling three kids

6:31

between the ages of four and one. We

6:34

never wanted for anything. And she

6:36

was always there for us. Being a

6:38

single mother in those days was frowned upon,

6:40

but she held her head up and built

6:42

a life for herself for us. She loved

6:44

us so unconditionally and we still feel that

6:46

love today. And the

6:48

song that Belinda picked is Harper Valley

6:50

PTA performed by Jeannie C. Riley.

7:01

I want to tell you all the stories

7:03

about a hooker by the way. Well,

7:17

her daughter came home and she

7:19

knew that indeed we're supposed to play.

7:34

And we don't believe

7:36

you ought to be

7:39

bringing up your little

7:41

girl this way. It's

8:05

hard to interrupt this because it's a story song. And

8:08

we're getting a full story here. You

8:10

know Belinda from Southern California who wrote in about

8:13

this didn't say exactly what it was about this

8:15

song. But

8:17

perhaps there's something in this story that she identified

8:19

with. Yeah. And the

8:21

difficulties her mother likely faced. There's

8:23

always a lot of shame and respectability

8:26

put on women,

8:29

particularly mothers who are parenting without a

8:31

male spouse. And

8:34

it's the case now and I know it was even

8:36

more the case then. And

8:38

so I loved her

8:40

picking this song almost as

8:42

an empowerment anthem for her mother

8:45

and what she likely faced. Yeah.

8:47

I mean that's something else we heard consistently across

8:49

all these songs too where songs

8:51

of empowerment about staying strong

8:54

in the face of adversity,

8:56

being true to who you

8:58

are. And then

9:01

also those lessons and values

9:03

being passed on to their

9:05

kids and acknowledging the people calling

9:07

and writing and acknowledging that, gosh,

9:09

my mom managed to do all

9:11

this and also make life fun

9:13

for us while it was also

9:16

a struggle. Yeah. And I

9:18

will also say I love the mention of Peyton

9:20

Place because I'm a soap fan in the song.

9:23

But I also just love the mention in Harbor

9:25

Valley PTA as sort of the hypocrisy

9:27

of those folks who were shaming her.

9:29

Right. So it's such a

9:32

great story. I wonder if this

9:34

song takes on new meaning now that in

9:37

the current political climate, the idea of a

9:39

PTA, you just hear about like PTA meetings

9:41

that just go completely off the rails now

9:43

and parents going after each other. I

9:46

thought it was an interesting pick to

9:48

see come up. Oh yeah. Yeah. Also

9:51

so many stories and this is how Belinda set it

9:53

up. So many stories. It's just about how hard their

9:55

moms worked. You know. All right.

9:57

Meet you. We've

10:00

got another written submission. This

10:02

is from Christopher in Henderson. He

10:05

didn't say which Henderson, maybe Henderson, North Carolina, not

10:07

sure. But

10:09

the song he picked is Stevie Wonder's, Isn't

10:11

She Lovely? Christopher says, ''This

10:14

song reminds me of my mother specifically because

10:16

in the song Stevie Wonder talks about how

10:18

his daughter's birth is a precious and

10:20

lovable gift to him. And that's what my

10:22

mom is to me. A wonderful gift

10:24

that deserves all the love she can get.'' I've

10:58

got a purpose to hope he's seen Taking

11:03

one such mission You

11:05

actually are to love, I will

11:07

for again It's

11:09

not alloted today their mission

11:11

is to love Give

11:15

the beat I got

11:17

a job to love and agencies

11:21

Making one a country

11:25

needs Give

11:27

it to me Give

11:29

it to me Give it

11:32

to me Give

11:36

it to me So

11:58

something that's interesting about this

12:00

song and my relationship to it. And I will

12:02

say right off the bat, I am a massive

12:04

Stevie Wonder fan. Please do not come from me.

12:06

Don't come at me. It is

12:09

frustrating sometimes to hear it because sometimes

12:11

in our pop cultural context,

12:14

people will use this to refer

12:16

to someone they have romantic love with.

12:18

Right. And it could not

12:20

be clearer. Right, right. It's right there

12:22

at the top. That it is about

12:25

a child. His child. So.

12:28

It was also just in the story that

12:30

you shared from Christopher and the memory, it's

12:33

just really, really sweet. It is. Really,

12:35

really sweet memories, sweet sentiments. We'll

12:37

shed some tears along the way here

12:40

for sure, but it was just such a

12:43

lovely sweet moment. I don't know. I have

12:45

to play this. Okay, we do have to take a

12:47

quick break here, but we'll be back

12:49

with more stories and songs right after this.

12:52

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For this podcast and the following message

13:56

come from: Lagunitas Brewing Company. Since 1993,

13:58

Lagunitas. It's

14:00

been challenging the status quo brewing innovative

14:02

beer and crafting stories along the way.

14:04

Featuring a wide range of craft brews,

14:07

cult classics and non alcoholic options, There's

14:09

a seat at the bar for every

14:11

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to Sperling Company because every great song

14:15

deserves. The great beer! It's good to

14:18

have friends. Learn. More at Log and

14:20

eat us.com. One. Thing

14:22

that was clear in all of

14:24

these submissions we got is how

14:27

much people. Love. Their moms be

14:29

so it's like you don't I mean usually

14:31

when we do call outs fair number of

14:33

people will right in with a song about

14:35

from you know basically what a horrible monster

14:37

there for the summer semester for was you

14:39

know like well what's one person did right

14:41

in and and they mention the song Ding

14:43

Dong the Witch is dead you know noted

14:45

every time I hear and I'm reminded that

14:48

I never have to see her again it's

14:50

it. I'll Adams. You know that we

14:52

respect that. That is a to alice feeling

14:54

depending on their relationship with their mom. Absolutely

14:56

hundred percent total respect. Their a bit

14:59

but overall just so many sweet memories

15:01

and stories including this one from a

15:03

listener named Phoenix and Northern Maine. This

15:06

is one of the voice memos we

15:08

got. Hand hum the song that Phoenix

15:10

mentions his Rainbow Connection from the Muppet

15:12

Movie. It reminds of my mother because

15:15

she is to sing it to me and

15:17

my brother when least her olives together. And

15:20

we read we were in rooms right next

15:22

to each other to swing back and forth

15:24

between the two rooms and just looking at

15:26

us. and if she ever ended with my

15:28

brother. And not mean that

15:30

I would start trying not to mention

15:32

loved me as much as a very

15:34

dramatic child. and then. She

15:37

also miss a whole verse in the song

15:39

every single time she sang at. She never.

15:42

Sang. The full song but she

15:44

did saying the ending power goes largely

15:46

that us that she would try to

15:48

hit a high note and she was

15:50

go la di da da. And

15:54

that was. Always. something but every

15:56

time that song comes out hours and when my

15:58

mother and i still thing as ours I'm just...

16:00

whatever they're doing is your fault. The word...

16:04

is your fault. The

16:07

day we go and

16:09

what can be is

16:12

the old

16:16

old old

16:20

illusion and rainbows

16:22

have nothing to hide. The

16:28

weeks been told and some soon to

16:30

believe it. I

16:34

know you'll be taken. Someday

16:40

we'll find the

16:44

rainbow connection. The

16:46

lovers of the dreamers

16:49

end. I

16:55

love this song so much. Everytime

16:59

I hear it, I start to get all emotional. What

17:01

is it? It's a... It's

17:03

such a gentle song and

17:06

it's such an optimistic and hopeful song. And

17:09

then of course you think about

17:11

Criminal New Logging Bar. Criminal New

17:13

Log in the opening? You

17:16

know, one thing that struck me about this is

17:18

how... and this is true of so

17:20

many of the stories and songs that we got... is

17:23

how people fell in love with the

17:25

songs that their parents gave. And it's

17:27

like Phoenix, who's in the voice memo for this,

17:30

could have just as easily thought, oh God, that

17:32

song, right? And now

17:34

she sings it for me. Maybe she's a teacher or

17:36

something that she says she sings it with the kids, for the

17:39

kids that she works with. I love this

17:41

movie when it came out. I was in elementary school

17:44

and it had its

17:46

40th anniversary run. They showed it

17:48

in theaters again. And I took

17:50

my young son, who was about the age I was when it came out,

17:53

And I don't think he was feeling it.

17:55

Like, you know, this thing that was... It's

17:57

so magical to me. And

18:00

I don't They use feeling is still

18:02

yeah it's still a great and I

18:04

mean and cynics as a really great

18:06

storyteller yes yes I can absolutely sort

18:08

of sees Mom bouncing from my home

18:10

as I've made me think about the

18:12

routines I have with my to rise

18:14

in price. You know they're both still

18:16

pretty young and I get them up

18:18

every morning. The song I always saying

18:20

every morning as a noxious li as

18:22

I possibly can is is the good

18:25

morning good morning from singing in the

18:27

ring I'm going on. In. That

18:29

endeavor. And Six O'clock Spicer, you slept

18:31

the whole night through. I don't think

18:33

that's actually a line and the such

18:35

as yours. Let's all right through a

18:37

good morning routine says, you know, but

18:40

I'm here, you know. Make a memory.

18:42

Yeah, making memories. And

18:44

I'm What? So. Is speaking of

18:46

memories and share mine. I what

18:48

I would love for you to I I I didn't

18:50

wanna I wasn't sure if you're ready. Yet another after

18:52

any. So thinking of memories and

18:55

songs and trying to decide on

18:57

the songs, I. Focused.

18:59

On the joy that I always see

19:01

my mother exhibit with certain songs and

19:03

it was hard. Because my mom

19:06

loves music via even. If she

19:08

doesn't specifically say that like out loud.

19:10

And so at first I was going

19:12

to pick a song by Robin as

19:14

so Me Love is I'm very real

19:16

memories of my mother dancing and as

19:18

a wedding and electric blue dress to

19:20

the song does have the time of

19:22

her life but I ultimately settled on.

19:25

The. Song by one of her favorite.

19:27

Favorite Singers Solas I'm in the song as

19:30

you know for to let me. There's

20:40

a taking you it's taking

20:42

me to my

20:44

mother washing dishes and

20:46

it comes on the radio her hands are in

20:48

the water dishwater and she is dancing like

20:51

she is back in whatever

20:53

club or disco that she heard it in

20:55

the first time and

20:57

she's just having a time of her life that is without

21:00

question like her favorite song she

21:02

will jam to it in any

21:05

given time love the deeply and

21:07

and as a result I love it deeply. I think

21:11

about my mom's relationship to

21:13

this song to Phyllis Hyman just taught

21:15

me so much about how to relate

21:17

to music and how to relate to

21:19

these artists that you love both in

21:21

the joy and in when

21:24

Phyllis Hyman passed away seeing

21:26

my mother's sorrow at

21:28

this artist who she has such a deep love for

21:30

I'd never sort of seen that from her for

21:33

somebody who she didn't actually know so it

21:37

just sort of helped me understand relationship to music

21:40

but I more than anything just think

21:42

about how much she loves dancing to

21:44

this song. It's such a

21:46

celebration too right you know it's not a sad

21:49

song it's not a sentimental song it's just like

21:51

it feels so good and I love how it's

21:53

not too on the nose you know it's not

21:55

like I mean it's all

21:57

in there but there's just the the

21:59

simple little image and ideas like looking

22:01

up at the stars and being alone

22:04

with your thoughts and just noting how

22:06

fast time goes by. That's

22:09

life, right? There's

22:11

just so much understood and implied in all

22:13

of that. Great pick.

22:16

Great pick. Well,

22:18

I'll do mine then. There are so many

22:20

songs that make me think of my mom. She

22:22

really loved music. She sang a lot.

22:24

She played music. She played piano. She's

22:27

really the one who encouraged me in

22:30

my life as I got more into music. But

22:33

the song that I want to play is one that

22:35

came into our lives pretty late, actually, both

22:38

my mom's and mine. It's a song

22:40

called Oh Mother by the artist known

22:42

as Milk. She's a musician that I

22:44

really, really love. And I featured her on the show

22:46

a number of times over the years. We did a

22:48

couple tiny desks with her. Anyway,

22:51

back in the first year of the pandemic, so this

22:54

was in 2020, Milk posted this

22:56

very bare bones performance, a video of

22:58

her playing the song, just her and

23:00

her piano. She posted that on Instagram

23:02

and I just happened to find it

23:04

and I just bawled my eyes

23:06

out. And I immediately

23:09

thought of my mom and I sent it to her.

23:12

I said, you've got to listen to the song. She

23:14

really, really loved it too. We

23:16

talked about it and how

23:19

much we loved it. And apart from the

23:21

obvious fact that it's

23:23

called Oh Mother and it's about

23:25

Milk's mom, I always

23:27

think of the song when I think of my mom because

23:29

it was sort of the last musical

23:32

sort of sharing moment that I had

23:35

with her because she ended up passing

23:37

away suddenly not long after

23:39

I shared this song with her and after

23:41

we talked about it. And so I can't

23:44

think of my mom without

23:46

thinking of this song. Where

24:05

do I start? How

24:08

do I mend my soul without

24:12

breaking your heart? A

24:15

thousand souls I've

24:18

eaten for everyone

24:20

else The

24:22

one that belongs to you I'm

24:26

like stars on the shelf This

24:31

world complicated was Making

24:42

it hard to understand I

24:46

keep showing off

24:50

Cause you and I, we're

24:52

still growing up And

24:57

all we try And

25:02

all we leave, we leave Oh

25:05

yeah, I'm not keen, I'm not

25:07

keen Oh, you know,

25:09

maybe that's enough Keep

25:13

showing off, keep showing

25:16

off It's

25:24

okay, take your time Yeah,

25:28

you know, my relationship with my

25:30

mom was nowhere near as fraud as I think

25:32

the one that Milt sort

25:35

of describes in this song with her mom You

25:38

know, but there's so many of the

25:40

sentiments I think in it are just universal in

25:42

forever And you know,

25:45

particularly the fact that, you know, something

25:47

that kids don't always, well certainly young

25:50

kids never recognize And that

25:52

is that your mom is also human And

25:54

She's been through everything you've been through, and you

25:57

know, she's fallible and she's still trying to figure

25:59

things out, right? And

26:01

then also just the fact that he's you keep you

26:03

know they the idea of you just keep showing up

26:06

for each other. no matter was. The hazards.

26:08

There's so many lines. Sicilian

26:10

Like you said, you said the

26:12

and excision yard. Right now I'm

26:15

that's how do I meant. Myself

26:17

without. Breaking your heart as we sort of

26:19

as adults. Look back. On the things

26:21

that maybe we're not the smoothest

26:24

in our upbringing, how he knows

26:26

we navigated and her mother's navigated

26:28

that. But also there's a line

26:30

at the end that. Really caught me

26:32

Which is strong enough to tell you

26:34

I love you can still call you

26:36

love. To see sold.

26:39

Having that courage and that love in

26:41

that respect for your relationship with to

26:43

be able to say I love you

26:45

more than anything else in this world.

26:48

And. I am still the details. But

26:51

efforts you see fit into that

26:53

was at it right. Which is

26:55

hard to say I'd hear pass

26:57

Wealth. So this song was unreleased.

26:59

Connie Limb says she writes in

27:01

Performances Milks. She wrote the song

27:03

she posted on Instagram and I've

27:05

been waiting all this time for

27:07

to the com our eyes and

27:09

I started the think you know

27:11

what I wonder if she's not.

27:14

Releasing the song because it's just so person all and

27:16

there's even of mine and the song and all the

27:18

songs I wrote for you are on a shelf whereas

27:20

you know it's not ok, maybe this is one Seats

27:22

is kind of wants to hold onto, but I reached

27:25

out to her and and it turns out that the

27:27

song. Is. Actually part of a full

27:29

musical? Oh wow that milk is working

27:31

on. Yeah with the Luttrell a play

27:33

house and writer same chance and achieve

27:35

was basically think the and I'll I'll

27:37

I'll just wait until this means right

27:39

on will put it out but she

27:42

actually has just released this on eyes

27:44

so it's out there now. Ah so

27:46

everyone should absolutely could. Sixty just absolutely

27:48

slays me and that is absolutely perfect.

27:50

Said it's being put into a musical

27:52

because it's now. You got my mind.

27:54

Like had a whole. Way of

27:56

seeing it seemed. Performed on stage.

27:59

Yeah, Anna. the scene. Now

28:01

I'm looking forward to that. You like music. I'm

28:04

a good musical fan. That's right. Yeah,

28:06

me too. Me too. I really want to see

28:08

the story. So

28:11

yeah, very excited that the song is finally

28:13

out in the world because it has meant

28:15

so much to me these last few years.

28:19

The only thing I've ever had is

28:21

the Instagram link that I bookmarked or

28:23

saved to share with people. So anyway,

28:27

on that note, we do have to take

28:29

another quick break, but still several more

28:31

stories and songs from our listeners that we want

28:33

to share. And you're listening to All Songs Considered

28:35

from NPR Music. This

28:38

message comes from Capital One,

28:40

offering commercial solutions you can

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the possibilities at CapitalOne.com-com-com-commercial, a

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member FDIC. It's

29:10

All Songs Considered from NPR Music. I'm Robin Hilton.

29:12

I'm here with Mitra Arthur, and we're sharing stories

29:15

from our listeners about the songs

29:17

that remind them of their moms.

29:20

Mitra, what do we got next? So this next

29:22

one comes from Steven. He didn't say where

29:25

he's located, but he picked the

29:27

song that a lot of people mentioned. One

29:29

of my earliest memories is

29:31

my mother singing, You Are My Sunshine

29:33

to me. She

29:36

died several years ago and I miss her

29:38

every single day. But

29:41

I was in Victoria, Canada

29:43

recently, and the bell

29:46

carol on there actually played

29:48

You Are My Sunshine when

29:51

I was walking by. And that's how

29:53

I know that she's still looking down

29:55

on me and very much looking forward

29:57

to a happy reunion someplace down the

29:59

road. You are

30:02

my sunshine, my

30:05

only sunshine You

30:08

make me happy with

30:10

skies of gray You'll

30:14

never know dear,

30:16

how much I

30:19

love you Please

30:21

don't take my

30:23

sunshine away The

30:27

other night dear,

30:29

as I lay

30:32

sleeping I

30:34

dreamed I held you

30:38

in my arms When

30:40

I woke dear,

30:43

I was mistaken

30:46

So I hung

30:49

my head and

30:51

cried Such a

30:53

beautiful version of this song, it's sung by

30:55

Christina Perry Can we

30:57

talk about romantic love versus love

31:00

of a parent and a mother

31:03

And this is a song that works either way, right?

31:05

100% It

31:07

really does, because it's

31:10

so simple, there's not a

31:12

lot of complexity to it And it still

31:14

manages to fit in however you need it

31:16

to fit I always just

31:18

love hearing this song because of

31:21

its joy in it in a simple way Because

31:24

that's a simple concept of somebody

31:26

brightening your day, somebody being the sunshine

31:29

How many other songs do we have that

31:31

refer to people as their sunshine or their

31:33

brightness? They all sort of derive at some

31:35

point from this song My

31:37

daughter is eight, and just

31:39

the other night, it's probably just three nights ago She

31:42

asked me to sing this song to her I

31:45

was so surprised because I don't

31:47

think I ever have before And I don't even know

31:49

if I've ever played it But

31:51

it's a song that also just sort of exists in

31:53

the ether, right? Everyone knows you are my sunshine Exactly,

31:57

I was sitting here thinking I don't even know who's

31:59

next who wrote it at some point

32:01

in history, but whoever it was, bravo. And

32:06

one thing that you note is that it's sort of a simple song.

32:08

And I found that a lot of the

32:11

music that people wrote in and told us

32:13

about were those sort of simple

32:15

songs. You know, like, Kesarasara

32:18

came up a lot, the

32:20

Dorstate version of Kesarasara. A

32:22

lot of people mentioned John Denver songs, some Beatles

32:25

songs, a number of people

32:27

mentioned Downtown by Petula Clark song. I

32:30

think maybe they just have memories of

32:32

like going on trips with their mom

32:34

or something. But I think,

32:37

you know, one of the reasons is that these songs

32:39

came up is because they are simple. They're so singable,

32:41

right? And people have

32:43

memories of their mom singing these songs. Also,

32:46

you know, certainly the time they came out and

32:48

the generation that a lot of people were

32:51

referencing. All right, let's get to

32:53

another voice memo we got. This one

32:55

is from Polly, Polly in Ohio, who

32:57

says that the song that reminds her

32:59

of her mom is The Lion Sleeps

33:01

Tonight by the Tokens. She

33:04

would play this on the radio in

33:06

the kitchen at loudest volume

33:08

that could go and all seven of us

33:10

kids were in there dancing with her. We

33:12

couldn't wait till we were the one that she

33:15

selected to pull our arms and start dancing with

33:17

us. And she would sing along

33:19

in her awful singing voice that we all

33:21

inherited. But just recently, I

33:24

was looking on my phone and saw a video

33:26

of my daughter, Mallory, who passed

33:28

away at the age of 24, two years ago. This

33:33

video was probably when she was 23, 24. And

33:38

she was out with friends at a bar. And

33:41

she was singing along as loud as

33:43

she could to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

33:47

I was laughing. I was crying. All I

33:49

could think about was Mallory and

33:51

my mom are up in

33:53

heaven together, having the greatest time

33:55

singing and laughing and just enjoying

33:58

getting to know each other. It's

34:01

a wonderful memory. I miss them both

34:03

so much, but it brings

34:05

great joy to my

34:07

heart to know that they're together, and I still

34:09

have this video. I'm

35:13

just thinking, it is so...she just

35:15

told the most heartbreaking story to

35:17

me, and first off,

35:20

I'm so sorry for Paulie's loss. Yeah. But

35:22

then you hear this, it's just like, how

35:24

can you feel bad about anything in the

35:26

world listening to this song? I mean, because

35:28

I'll tell you, when I was listening to the

35:31

voice note, I was on the train and I'm

35:33

crying on the platform listening, but I also am

35:36

listening to the song and thinking about the story

35:38

and thinking about, again, the joy of

35:41

having that memory with her mother and

35:43

then having that memory of her daughter and

35:45

seeing in her mind's eye them

35:48

enjoying it together in their

35:50

afterlife and their next place

35:52

and just wishing that

35:55

comfort on her. Also, It's

35:57

such a wonderful and fun song. And

36:01

I'm I'm Honolulu. imagining didn't.

36:03

Give us this information, but I'm imagining giving her age.

36:05

Are probably hearing it in the Lion

36:08

King. Lear vs.

36:10

As though this is all this. even in the sadness

36:12

is Aldus a joy? And fun

36:14

and I love that I'm that Paul.

36:16

We found this video of her daughter.

36:19

It was almost like she was caught.

36:21

Oh yeah you know like of that

36:23

she never would have known that the

36:25

song meant that much to her daughter's

36:27

well right the found this video and

36:29

she's clearly you're like a clearly it's

36:31

clearly got handed down. In fact do

36:33

that because I'm sure Poly was singing

36:36

it to her daughter and I am.

36:38

I love it out. Thank you so

36:40

much Poly for sharing that him then

36:42

compile the in Ohio. Okay,

36:44

meter, let's do one of the written comments. Her.

36:47

So with that a comment from learn and saddened

36:49

do that. Growing. Up. My mom would

36:52

sing Motown music on a kitten radio or

36:54

she was cooking or cleaning. Every time. Reach

36:56

out I'll be there by the for taps

36:58

would come on should Belts had the lyrics

37:01

and when the part just look over your

37:03

shoulder will come on she turned and look

37:05

over her shoulder. Soothe.

37:07

Agnes with early onset Alzheimer's in her

37:09

sixties. Can even when she didn't speak

37:12

much anymore and. It mover the names of any one

37:14

of my family. She still from the

37:16

Motown songs and Smile and that parks him

37:18

on. The last summer heard the

37:20

song with her. To lay still in

37:22

the hostas bed with eyes closed and when

37:25

he said. Just. Look over your shoulder.

37:27

Her hand twitched and her whole body should.

37:31

It's hard to listen to the song now even

37:33

though I love it and I try to think

37:35

of the times that she sang the song with

37:37

a big smile. Come

38:00

on, man! Come on, girl!

38:04

Please don't ask me! Me!

38:09

You're not. The

38:28

part she's talking about, uh, is over

38:30

your shoulder, that comes pretty close to

38:32

the end of the song. So it's, we're just

38:35

playing partial cuts here, but I can so

38:37

see her mom doing that, right? Looking over,

38:39

giving a smile and saying that. First

38:43

of all, I'm a big Four Tops fan. I love

38:46

Levi Snell's voice on these songs. And

38:49

so, um, but what

38:51

we were talking about before, these songs

38:53

that are so well written, it

38:56

can be a Rupandik partner, but in this case, it's so,

38:58

I can so very clearly see

39:00

it in that I am, I'm here for you

39:02

as your parent. You need anything

39:04

in this place. Just I

39:06

am right behind you. I got you. Yeah.

39:08

Yeah. I love that too. And

39:12

music is like, it's almost mystical,

39:14

right? I mean, I think

39:16

we talked about this the last time we

39:19

started talking about God and your childhood. I'm

39:21

like, I don't, I don't know, man, you

39:23

know, but you know, when I

39:25

see the way that music affects people, you

39:27

know, or, you know, I just

39:29

can't help but think there's gotta be something, right?

39:31

I mean, something's going on here because we

39:33

heard so many stories from people with

39:35

moms, you know, struggling, they're sick, they're

39:37

battling dementia or Alzheimer's. And

39:40

then music reaches them in a

39:42

way that nothing else can. Yeah. And,

39:45

and not just reaches them, but also still

39:47

allows them to express

39:49

that feeling and that love, even as, you

39:52

know, they're having those difficulties and as you

39:54

said, with dementia and everything. I'm

39:56

just really feeling in that moment and

39:58

seeing in that moment. her mother

40:00

saying her just by squeezing

40:03

her hand. Even

40:05

if I'm not here, I'm here with you.

40:07

Yeah, yeah. Oh, so powerful.

40:11

Well, as I mentioned at the top of the

40:13

show, I feel like we just

40:15

started. We just started. We've been going on, I

40:17

guess we've been going on a while here. We

40:20

can only get to a fraction of the stories and the

40:22

songs that listeners sent in. Truly,

40:25

I was just blown away by

40:27

how many submissions we got. So thank

40:29

you to everyone for sharing and taking

40:31

the time to pass along all of these

40:33

wonderful memories and the music

40:36

too. We're gonna close

40:38

out with one more voice memo. This

40:40

is from Hannah in Salt Lake City.

40:42

And Mitra Arthur,

40:44

thank you so much for coming

40:46

on the show again and taking this journey

40:49

with me. Thank you again for the

40:51

invite. This was fun getting to sort of,

40:54

honestly be in my feelings again with you.

40:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's what we'll

40:59

do. You'll be the, oh, we've got to do this

41:01

show about getting our feelings. Very weird. Bring Mitra

41:03

on. And we'll do

41:05

more, yeah? Yeah. Okay, all right. And

41:08

for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's

41:10

all songs considered. Hi, my

41:12

name's Hannah and I'm calling in from Salt

41:14

Lake City, Utah. And the song that reminds

41:16

me of my mom is Wanting Memories by

41:18

Sweet Honey in the Rock. I

41:21

first heard this song when going to a

41:23

choir concert and I

41:25

remember sitting there and listening

41:27

to the lyrics and sitting next to my

41:29

mom and tears were streaming down my face.

41:32

I think this song is a beautiful way

41:35

to talk about what our parents teach us.

41:38

And I'm so lucky that my mom is

41:40

still alive today. And the song I think

41:42

often talks about how their mom

41:44

is no longer alive. But I listened to

41:46

this song and it reminds me to be

41:48

thankful and to appreciate the time I have

41:50

with my mom. I love you, mom. I

41:53

am sitting here. You

42:00

used to rock

42:03

me in the

42:05

grave of your

42:08

arm. You

42:29

said you'd hold me to the

42:31

things of life we're gone. You

42:35

said you'd comfort me in

42:37

times I'd feel, and now I

42:40

need you. Now I need

42:42

you. And

42:48

you are gone. I

42:55

am telling you, it's

42:57

only easy to see

42:59

the beings in the

43:01

world through my own

43:04

life. You

43:07

were on and left me,

43:09

there's such a little beauty,

43:12

but my heart's really through

43:14

your eyes. Now

43:19

the world outside is such a

43:21

cold and bitter blade. Here

43:26

inside I have few things

43:28

that will come, Lord. And

43:31

when I try to hear your

43:34

voice above the sun... I'm

43:48

telling you, it's only easy to see the beings in the world through

43:50

my own life. I'm

43:57

telling you, it's only easy to see the beings in the world through my

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