That's All Right, Mama

There are few things as powerful as a mother's love. It quells our fears, soothes our disappointments and always makes us feel understood. That's why so many pop stars use their platform to pay homage, pay last respects or -- in Eminem and Sinead's cases -- pay back the person who gave them life. Here are some of rock & roll's most memorable mom tunes:

"That's Someone You Never Forget"
Elvis Presley
1961

This tearjerker is one of only a handful of songs to bear Presley's name on the writing credit. In reality, the King only contributed the evocative title, which buddy Red West then used as a jumping-off point for the song, but Elvis' passionate vocals make the lyrics all his. Although the song's open-ended greeting card sentiment could easily be about romantic love, Presley's inner circle has long maintained that on this track his heart belonged to mama Gladys, who had passed three years earlier.

"Julia"
The Beatles
1968

John Lennon broke from his rocker persona to pen this tender homage to his mother, who was fatally hit by a car when he was fifteen. This wispy ballad captures the macho Liverpudlian in a rare, vulnerable moment -- and Freud would have a field day with the mention of "ocean child," the literal translation of Lennon's wife Yoko's name. The solo Lennon would revisit mom on the Plastic Ono Band song "Mother," a cathartic indictment of maternal neglect, but here he sings a song of love.

"Let It Be"
The Beatles
1970

Not to be outdone, Paul McCartney penned his own tribute to his mother, who also died when her son was in his early teens. Years later, when the crush of Beatlemania was beginning to weigh on him, he reportedly had a dream in which his mother came to him and told him simply to "let it be." The words had a profoundly calming effect on McCartney, and gave him one of his most loved compositions.

"Mother and Father"
Madonna
2003

Madonna has visited the subject of her mother before, most notably with the Like a Prayer album dedication, but never as openly as on her new record. The Material Girl -- now a mother of two herself -- sings about the loneliness she felt after her mother's death from cancer, and her resentment of her father for carrying on. "No one else I guess could hurt me like you did/I didn't understand/I was just a kid," she sings, with forgiveness only a mother could understand.

"Mama Tried"
Merle Haggard
1968

Haggard pays loving tribute to his mother's well-meaning but futile attempts to steer him down the straight and narrow in this signature tune. Though he takes some poetic license with his sentence -- he served prison time, but he never received "life without parole" -- the song captures the spirit of his renegade youth. In the end, the narrator's failure to heed his mother's warnings about "what lay in store" if he doesn't curb his outlaw ways lands him behind bars, a bitter testament to the adage that mother knows best.

"Dear Mama"
2Pac
1995

After his near-fatal shooting, Tupac Shakur reflected on the thug life he was living and the choices that got him there. On this song, his very own "Mama Tried," hip-hop's late poet laureate remembers his mother's trials raising him and assures her that no matter the outcome, he knows she did her best. "Ain't a woman alive," he declares, "that could take my mama's place."

"The Wish"
Bruce Springsteen
1987

This Tunnel of Love outtake first saw the light of day eleven years later on the Tracks box set. In this sentimental tune, Springsteen remembers his mid-Sixties youth -- Beatle boots, matador pants, "The Twist" and the Christmas his mom got him his first guitar. The song is his long-overdue thanks for starting him off on the path to rock & roll glory, and proof that when mom's involved, wishes do come true.

"For Martha"
Smashing Pumpkins
1998

Billy Corgan made a career out of whining about his miserable childhood, but you'd never know it from this track. Written shortly after his mother's death, "For Martha" finds Corgan full of love. Although he's clearly feeling the loss, the song is ultimately uplifting, as he let's his mom know that he'll see her "on the other side."

"Kill You"
Eminem
2000

Leave it to pop's most controversial star to record a death threat to his mother. With vitriol he usually reserves for his ex-wife and homosexuals, Eminem skewers his mom for the alleged abuses he suffered as a kid. Anticipating the backlash this song would cause, Slim Shady offered his defense: "How the fuck you supposed to grow up when you weren't raised?" Eminem's mom then slapped him with a $10 million defamation-of-character lawsuit -- that'll teach you to talk to your mother with that mouth.

"Tomorrow"
U2
1981

The boys from Dublin have taken some ribbings for their earnestness, but it suited this song just fine. Bono's pain is almost palpable as he laments his mother's death, punctuating the song with images from her funeral ("There's a black car parked at the side of the road"). But while the song is filled with confusion and a childlike yearning for her to return, Bono rises above it, finally taking solace in his Christian faith.

"Always on the Run"
Lenny Kravitz
1991

Though Mama Said is best known as the album on which Kravitz grieved over his divorce from Lisa Bonet, it got its title from this tribute to his mom, actress Roxy Roker. Kravitz always spoke openly about the strong influence she had on him, but he never detailed it as clearly as he did here, stringing together her pearls of maternal wisdom and hanging them on a Hendrix-style funk riff. Though she would pass away a few years later, Roker clearly left Kravitz with an instruction manual for a well-lived life.

"Coat of Many Colors"
Dolly Parton
1971

Dolly revisits her rural youth in this fan favorite. Born into a family so financially strapped they couldn't afford clothes, she recalls her mother stitching together swatches of colored fabric to make her a coat. No Hallmark card could ever top the line "Although we had no money/I was rich as I could be/In my coat of many colors/My momma made for me."

"You Cause as Much Sorrow"
Sinead O'Connor
1990

Not even the grave could mute Sinead O'Connor's mother's meddlesome influence. Here, in just over five minutes, O'Connor vents a lifetime of anger in what may be the most scathing song every written about a loved one. With its refrain "You cause as much sorrow dead as you did when you were alive," the song brings new meaning to "brutal honesty," but, in typical Sinead fashion, it's a steadfast declaration of independence.

"Why Do You Want Him?"
Green Day
1991

In a rare early moment of seriousness, Billie Joe Armstrong wrote "Why Do You Want Him?" about his mother and her rocky relationship with her then-boyfriend. He questions her devotion to a man who clearly brings her heartache, as well as her ability to get over his deceased father. Though the track stood out from the mostly party-friendly fare on Green Day's debut, it foreshadowed the insightful songwriting that would become more prevalent in the post-Dookie years.

"I Wish"
R. Kelly
2000

Bad boy R. Kelly revisits his 'hood and has a heart-to-heart with his deceased mother on "I Wish." Kelly knows his mama's in a better place, but he's not so sure about himself; the trappings of his fame weigh on him and he questions the price of his ticket out of the ghetto. With its longing for the past and uncertainty about the future, this song is a stinging salvo.

"The Lazarus Heart"
Sting
1987

Sting's mum passed away while he was making his second album, Nothing Like the Sun. Appropriately, he channeled his grief into "The Lazarus Heart," the story of an artist who's creativity is drawn from a wound inflicted by his mother. With its dreamlike, mythical imagery, the song is a moving homage not only to Mrs. Sumner but the whole mother archetype. Sting dedicated the finished album to his mom and made this its opening track.

(May 8, 2003)