- Mother Mother (song)
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"Mother Mother" 
Single by Tracy Bonham from the album The Burdens of Being Upright Released 1996 Format CD single Recorded 1996 Genre Post-grunge Length 3:00 Label Polygram Writer(s) Tracy Bonham Producer Paul Q. Kolderie, Sean Slade Tracy Bonham singles chronology "Mother Mother"
(1996)"Sharks Can't Sleep"
(1996)"Mother Mother" is a song by Tracy Bonham from her debut album The Burdens of Being Upright. It reached the top of Billboard magazine's Modern Rock Tracks chart (#18 Mainstream Rock Tracks) in mid-1996.[1]
Contents
Lyrics
The song's lyrics resemble a telephone call by a young woman to her mother. The verses detail her experiences with several mundane aspects of her daily life but then the chorus provides an uglier, darker contrast with Bonham screaming the lyrics, leading up to the climactic lines
"I'm freezing, I'm starving, I'm bleeding to death, everything's fine! I miss you, I love you..."
The music videos
Two music videos were shot for the song and were used on both MTV and VH-1:
One video, directed by Jake Scott, was shot for MTV featuring an older woman (Bonham's real life mother) turning on the television on which Tracy's image is singing as the woman proceeds to clean the room. The backing band is seen as well playing in an adjoining dining room. The video had a disjointed quality about it and was perfect for the tone of MTV at the time, which was still playing alternative rock at the time.
A second video was shot for more family-friendly VH-1 in which the entire band including Bonham are in a large clothes closet as she sings into a mirror and then quick shots of her are shown playfully trying on different kinds of women's clothes. This version visually alters the message and almost defuses the tone of the song.
Notable Covers
In 2005 the song was covered by The Veronicas on their album The Secret Life Of....
Charts
Chart (1996)[2] Peak
positionAustralian Singles Chart 5 Dutch Singles Chart 32 New Zealand Singles Chart 13 Norwegian Singles Chart 6 U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 1 U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 18 References
- ^ Artist Chart History Billboard.com
- ^ "Mother Mother", various Singles Chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved February 14, 2008)
External links
Preceded by
"Salvation" by The CranberriesBillboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
June 8, 1996 - June 22, 1996Succeeded by
"Counting Blue Cars" by DishwallaCategories:- Billboard Alternative Songs number-one singles
- 1996 singles
- Tracy Bonham songs
- Post-grunge songs
- 1990s rock song stubs
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