Mother (John Lennon song)

"Mother"
Single by John Lennon
from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
B-side	"Why" (Yoko Ono)
Released	28 December 1970 (US only)
Format	7" vinyl
Recorded	September–October 1970
Genre	Rock
Length	5:34 (album version) 3:53 (single edit) 3:50 (demo version)
Writer(s)	John Lennon
Producer(s)	Phil Spector, John Lennon and Yoko Ono
John Lennon singles chronology
"Instant Karma!" (with Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band) (1970) "Mother" (1970) "Power to the People" (1971)
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band track listing 11 tracks Side one "Mother" "Hold On" "I Found Out" "Working Class Hero" "Isolation" Side two "Remember" "Love" "Well Well Well" "Look at Me" "God" "My Mummy's Dead"

11 tracks
Side one "Mother" "Hold On" "I Found Out" "Working Class Hero" "Isolation" Side two "Remember" "Love" "Well Well Well" "Look at Me" "God" "My Mummy's Dead"

"Mother" is a song by English musician John Lennon, first released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. An edited version of the song was issued as a single in the United States on Apple Records, on 28 December 1970. The single runs about 1:41 shorter than the album due to a lack of the tolling bells intro and a quicker fadeout. The B-side features "Why" by Yoko Ono. The song peaked in the US at number 19 on the Cashbox Top 100 and number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Mother" is actually a cry to both his parents, who abandoned him in his childhood. His father, Alf, left the family when John was an infant. His mother, Julia, did not live with her son, although they had a good relationship; she was hit and killed in a car accident on 15 July 1958 by a drunk off-duty policeman named Eric Clague, when Lennon was 17.

"Mother" opens the album, starting with a funeral bell tolling slowly, four times. The song ends with Lennon initially singing the phrase "Mama don't go, daddy come home", but then screaming as the song fades out.

Lennon was inspired to write the song after undergoing primal therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov, originally at their home at Tittenhurst Park and then at the Primal Institute, California, where they remained for four months. Lennon, who eventually derided Janov, initially described the therapy as "something more important to me than The Beatles."

Although Lennon said that "Mother" was the song that "seemed to catch in my head", he had doubts about its commercial appeal and he considered issuing "Love" as a single instead. "Love" was eventually released as a single in 1982.

A demo version of the song was featured in the final scene and credits of the 2009 film Nowhere Boy.

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Wikipedia