replacing Hardly Baked whose feed is broken for reasons unknown. Original Hardly Baked + archive are here http://hardlybaked.blogspot.com/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"Really awful is more interesting to listen to than pretty good" - Eno
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
The Parental Voice in Pop
"We gave her most of our lives.... never a thought for ourselves..."
"We only wanted to be loved"
(always taken it to be meant as a clinging motherly or grandmotherly voice, a mixture of sponge and limpet... although others bits of the lyric suggests it's more about the mutual braindeath of matrimony: Rotten's last stand of cynicism before hitching up with Nora, for life)
"Nigel's whole future is as good as planned"
And now for something completely different...
Ray Davies playing truant from his role as Head of the Family, keeping his head down and turning a blind eye...
I am sure there's other examples of the parental voice in the Kinks songbook, must be something on Village Green Preservation...
Not a parental voice but perhaps a social surrogate for the parental - the congressman in "Summertime Blues" - "like to help you son, but you're too young to vote"
Harry Chapin of course...
Not forgetting Cat Stevens's "Father and Son"
Maternal voice internalized as spectral super-ego, not heard but invoked in "Triad"
I love you too
And I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three
You are afraid, embarrassed too
No one has ever said such a thing to you
Your mother's ghost stands at your shoulders
A face like ice, a little bit colder
Saying to you, you cannot do that
It breaks all the rules, you learned in school
But I don't really see
Why can't we go on as three
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update 12/2 late night
Lots of good suggestions in the comments, but this one I remembered myself - it dramatizes a dispute between a dad and his fruity, freaky glam-rock loving kid.
The full skit below concerns a teenager (Tommy Chong) who wakes up and listens to a song by "Alice Bowie" (Cheech Marin) and then his father (also played by Marin) yells at him to get ready for school and they have a fight.
[song]
My mamma talkin' to me, tryna to tell me how to live
But I don't listen to her 'cause my head is like a sieve
My daddy, he disowned me 'cause I wear my sister's clothes He caught me in the bathroom in a pair of pantyhose My basketball coach, he's done kicked me off the team For wearing high-heeled sneakers and acting like a queen (queen)
The world's comin' to an end, I don't even care As long as I can have a limo and my orange hair And it don't bother me if people think I'm funny 'Cause I'm a big rock star, and I'm making lots of money Money, money, money, money, money I'm so bloody rich, I own apartment buildings and shopping center And I only know three chords, watch me burn you fools
[skit starts]
I said turn that thing down and get ready for school Hey, what are you trying to do? You ruined my record, man, I just bought it I don't care what you just bought You get your little fanny perpendicular and get ready for school I'm not going to school What do you mean you're not going to school?
It's what I said, I'm not going to school And why not? Because I'm sick, that's why not Sick, you're sick, all right What's wrong with you now, prince charming? I got an earache
Earache, my eye, how would you like a butt ache? Now, get your little fanny out of that bed and clean up this room It looks like a pigsty, you hear me?
(oinking sounds)
All right, that's enough, that's enough You pushed me far enough, young man, you're gettin' punished Now stand up, no I said stand up!
Ah, let go of my hair, man Now, young man, I have talked to you and talked to you and talked to you Til' I'm blue in the face, and I'm done talking to you Good, does that mean you're done spitting on me, too? Shut up, I'm not done talking to you, now turn around and bend over Or what are you going to do, you pervert?
Pervert? What are you snobby little Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow Oh, shut up, I haven't even touched you yet Now I want you to know this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me Oh wow, that didn't even hurt Oh, yeah?
Oh, wow, what are you trying to do, tickle me? Tickle you? Yeah, I'll tickle you, ow! Oh, is that tickle, huh? Come on, I'll tickle Come on, lock it up, honey, come on Oh no more, no more
All right, now you're gonna do what I tell ya? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah You gonna talk back to me? Yeah, yeah,
what? I mean no, no, no, no, no Alright, now you get your clothes on and get your little butt ready for school right now Do you understand?
Yeah, alright
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Update: 12/ 3
how could I forget this one?
sourced in this anti-drug single (as mentioned in the comments)
I guess I was thinking, at least initially, more of the parental voice as a character within a song - as opposed to a singer-songwriter expressing their feeling about their child. Of which there's doubtless quite a few - in addition to those you mentioned, Thin Lizzy's "Sarah" is particularly lovely - a different side to Phil Lynott (although the tearaway side ultimately triumphed, tragically).
Talking about the tearaway dad, The Who's "It's A Legal Matter" is an anthem of bad-dad-hood -
My mind's lost in a household fog Wedding gowns and catalogs Kitchen furnishings and houses Maternity clothes and baby's trousers Now it's a legal matter, baby Marryin's no fun It's a legal matter, baby A legal matter from now on I told you why I changed my mind I got bored by playing with time I know you thought you had me nailed Well, I've freed my head from your garden rails
You ain't the first and you ain't the last I gain and lose my women fast I never want to make them cry I just get bored, don't ask me why Just wanna keep doing all the dirty little things I do And not work all day in an office just to bring my money back to you
The absolute nadir in this genre - and possibly the nadir in Pink Floyd’s entire career, which is saying something - is ‘Mother’ from the Wall. I recently saw someone quoting the lyrics on social media quite seriously, arguing that they told us something profound about society. It made me realise again that I really ought to delete all my accounts.
The Wall is a long bleak way away from the wonder-struck innocence of Barrett’s ‘Matilda Mother’ on the first album.
Ooh ooh ooh - a great example of the singer-talking-about-own child is Loudon Wainright III's "Rufus Is A Tit Man". If you don't know, get to know... It's quite something. Paging Dr. Freud...
Wainwright also write the cautionary tale "Be Careful There's a Baby in the House", which I imagine portends the tone of a great many parental-voice-in-rock songs, that of the harried sad sack trapped in a hell of their own making (i.e. the "screaming kids on my knee" protagonist of Scott Walker's "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg", who fantasizes his way out of his domestic dungeon.)
Yakety Yak too obvious? That's sort of the stock 'parental voice in pop', the killjoy authority figure of the fun loving younger generation/target demo - eventually reprised, visually, in multiple 80s music videos
'harried sad sack trapped in a hell of their own making'- one that jumps to mind is Sting's improbably Loch Ness Monster-creating middle class drone in Synchronicity II
One of the strangest pop records ever released - Once You Understand by Think - A US hit in 1971/72?? The verses consist of an angry exchange between parents and teenage son suggesting major family discord. The chorus is inanely repetitive, sounding like the kind of chant that would be used to indoctrinate cult members.
A pop 45 equivalent of Go Ask Alice, with a similarly tragic ending.
The Think song is the tune sampled by 4 Hero in "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare" - the proto-darkside drug-paranoia anthem with the cop saying "come down to the station house, your son is dead" and the dad's aghast "how?????". Something I should have remembered and incorporated already.
That dread-soaked Dad's "how???" then reappeared in "Where's The Boy", 4 Hero's sequel, and in various other tunes as an intertextual trace (4 Horsemen's "Drowning in Her" is one)
Lot's of anguished parental voices in "Tommy" - 1921, There's a Doctor, Go To The Mirror! etc.
Then there's Uncle Ernie......
Also the dates in Tommy don't match up - he saw his mother's affair and went deaf/dumb/blind in 1921, which means the whole story should be set in the interwar period, when there was a distinct lack of pinball tables. With the post-war setting he should have been about 50 when he became the Bally Table King.
In ‘Shop Around’ by the Miracles, Smokey Robinson puts a characteristically brilliant twist on the theme. The parental voice - the mother, in this case - is urging him towards freedom and pleasure, rather than responsibility and restraint.
I always think of it as one of Robinson’s unreliable narrator songs. Are we meant to believe his mother is really saying: “play the field for as long as you can, son”?
mama songs where its not a sexy mama but an actual mother with sage advice or admonition - junior giscombe “mama used to say”, three dog night “mama told me not to come”, ll cool j “mama said knock you out”
I was thinking of “No Charge” by JJ Barrie but I’ve just checked the lyrics and the little boy in the song makes out an invoice to his Mum rather than his Dad.
The song got to #1 in the UK singles chart in April 1976. I was thinking that it might have held off some ultra credible band or classic song from being top of the charts. However, looking at the Official Charts Company data, it merely held off “Combine Harvester” by The Wurzels that week.
Oh, Will Smith made his celebration of his son and his fatherhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WamkRSDeD8
I suppose one can consider it sweet, if extremely self-and-filially-congratulatory. I think this version might be as famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmW70pucm7M
But then the Fresh Prince pushed it too far, and tried to make Jaden a celebrity in his own right. Such a shame that Jaden has had a consistent dearth of talent in every single discipline he's attempted. The real tragedy is that he could have made such a constructive stock handler in an Argos warehouse.
Kinky Afro!
ReplyDeleteBut of course... and he's playing a character, right?
Deleteschmaltz on tap: Stevie Wonder - "Isn't She Lovely", Paul Simon - "Father and Daughter", Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You"
ReplyDeleteI guess I was thinking, at least initially, more of the parental voice as a character within a song - as opposed to a singer-songwriter expressing their feeling about their child. Of which there's doubtless quite a few - in addition to those you mentioned, Thin Lizzy's "Sarah" is particularly lovely - a different side to Phil Lynott (although the tearaway side ultimately triumphed, tragically).
DeleteTalking about the tearaway dad, The Who's "It's A Legal Matter" is an anthem of bad-dad-hood -
DeleteMy mind's lost in a household fog
Wedding gowns and catalogs
Kitchen furnishings and houses
Maternity clothes and baby's trousers
Now it's a legal matter, baby
Marryin's no fun
It's a legal matter, baby
A legal matter from now on
I told you why I changed my mind
I got bored by playing with time
I know you thought you had me nailed
Well, I've freed my head from your garden rails
You ain't the first and you ain't the last
I gain and lose my women fast
I never want to make them cry
I just get bored, don't ask me why
Just wanna keep doing all the dirty little things I do
And not work all day in an office just to bring my money back to you
The absolute nadir in this genre - and possibly the nadir in Pink Floyd’s entire career, which is saying something - is ‘Mother’ from the Wall. I recently saw someone quoting the lyrics on social media quite seriously, arguing that they told us something profound about society. It made me realise again that I really ought to delete all my accounts.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall is a long bleak way away from the wonder-struck innocence of Barrett’s ‘Matilda Mother’ on the first album.
On a lighter note, ‘Wham Rap’ has some cracking ventriloquised parental disapproval.
DeleteOoh ooh ooh - a great example of the singer-talking-about-own child is Loudon Wainright III's "Rufus Is A Tit Man". If you don't know, get to know... It's quite something. Paging Dr. Freud...
ReplyDeleteWainwright also write the cautionary tale "Be Careful There's a Baby in the House", which I imagine portends the tone of a great many parental-voice-in-rock songs, that of the harried sad sack trapped in a hell of their own making (i.e. the "screaming kids on my knee" protagonist of Scott Walker's "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg", who fantasizes his way out of his domestic dungeon.)
DeleteYakety Yak too obvious? That's sort of the stock 'parental voice in pop', the killjoy authority figure of the fun loving younger generation/target demo - eventually reprised, visually, in multiple 80s music videos
ReplyDelete'harried sad sack trapped in a hell of their own making'- one that jumps to mind is Sting's improbably Loch Ness Monster-creating middle class drone in Synchronicity II
No, that is a perfect example - I had just never paid attention to the lyrics before.
DeleteI was kind of hoping there was a rock or pop equivalent to the unintelligible parental voices you heard in the Peanuts cartoons.
Adding Cheech and Chong "Earache My Eye" to the post...
ReplyDeleteOne of the strangest pop records ever released - Once You Understand by Think - A US hit in 1971/72??
ReplyDeleteThe verses consist of an angry exchange between parents and teenage son suggesting major family discord. The chorus is inanely repetitive, sounding like the kind of chant that would be used to indoctrinate cult members.
A pop 45 equivalent of Go Ask Alice, with a similarly tragic ending.
The Think song is the tune sampled by 4 Hero in "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare" - the proto-darkside drug-paranoia anthem with the cop saying "come down to the station house, your son is dead" and the dad's aghast "how?????". Something I should have remembered and incorporated already.
DeleteThat dread-soaked Dad's "how???" then reappeared in "Where's The Boy", 4 Hero's sequel, and in various other tunes as an intertextual trace (4 Horsemen's "Drowning in Her" is one)
Certainly a lot of parents-being-addressed in acid house, "Where's Your Child", "Flash", etc.
DeleteLot's of anguished parental voices in "Tommy" - 1921, There's a Doctor, Go To The Mirror! etc.
ReplyDeleteThen there's Uncle Ernie......
Also the dates in Tommy don't match up - he saw his mother's affair and went deaf/dumb/blind in 1921, which means the whole story should be set in the interwar period, when there was a distinct lack of pinball tables. With the post-war setting he should have been about 50 when he became the Bally Table King.
That would have very much made him the Ronnie O'Sullivan of pinball, btw.
DeleteMe and my dad by Wall of Voodoo and Fight for your right to party by the Beastie Boys come to mind.
ReplyDelete"The Hand That Rocks The Cradle", The Smiths.
ReplyDeleteDef Leppard - Let’s Get Rocked
ReplyDeleteIn ‘Shop Around’ by the Miracles,
ReplyDeleteSmokey Robinson puts a characteristically brilliant twist on the theme. The parental voice - the mother, in this case - is urging him towards freedom and pleasure, rather than responsibility and restraint.
I always think of it as one of Robinson’s unreliable narrator songs. Are we meant to believe his mother is really saying: “play the field for as long as you can, son”?
mama songs where its not a sexy mama but an actual mother with sage advice or admonition - junior giscombe “mama used to say”, three dog night “mama told me not to come”, ll cool j “mama said knock you out”
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of “No Charge” by JJ Barrie but I’ve just checked the lyrics and the little boy in the song makes out an invoice to his Mum rather than his Dad.
ReplyDeleteThe song got to #1 in the UK singles chart in April 1976. I was thinking that it might have held off some ultra credible band or classic song from being top of the charts. However, looking at the Official Charts Company data, it merely held off “Combine Harvester” by The Wurzels that week.
“No Charge” by J J Barrie:
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PiaY2GQuuzA&list=RDPiaY2GQuuzA&start_radio=1&pp=ygUUaiBqIGJhcnJpZSBubyBjaGFyZ2WgBwE%3D
The UK singles chart from 30th May 1976
ReplyDeletehttps://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19760530/7501/
Intuition by Linx, the title being that which David Grant's mother used to keep finding him out when he was a kid
ReplyDeleteBillie Jean by Michael Jackson, giving young Mike some unnecessary advice.
ReplyDeleteOh, Will Smith made his celebration of his son and his fatherhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WamkRSDeD8
ReplyDeleteI suppose one can consider it sweet, if extremely self-and-filially-congratulatory. I think this version might be as famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmW70pucm7M
But then the Fresh Prince pushed it too far, and tried to make Jaden a celebrity in his own right. Such a shame that Jaden has had a consistent dearth of talent in every single discipline he's attempted. The real tragedy is that he could have made such a constructive stock handler in an Argos warehouse.
A good one for me:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNiJPwD_wzs&list=RDXNiJPwD_wzs&start_radio=1