Mother And Father
Lyrics
There was a time, I was happy in my life
There was a time, I believed I'd live forever
There was a time, that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time, I had a mother
It was nice
Nobody else would ever take the place of you
Nobody else could do the things that you could do
No one else I guess could hurt me like you did
I didn't understand, I was just a kid
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
There was a time, I was happy in my life
There was a time, I believed I'd live forever
There was a time, that I prayed to Jesus Christ
There was a time, I had a mother
It was nice
Oh mother, why aren't you here with me
No one else saw the things that you could see
I'm trying hard to dry my tears
Yes father, you know I'm not so free
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
My mother died when I was five
And all I did was sit and cry
I cried and cried and cried all day
Until the neighbors went away
They couldn't take my loneliness (I gotta give it up)
I couldn't take their phoniness (I gotta give it up)
My father had to go to work (I gotta give it up)
I used to think he was a jerk (I gotta give it up)
I didn't know his heart was broken
Not another word was spoken
He became a shadow of
The father I was dreaming of
I made a vow that I would never need
Another person ever
Turned my heart into a cage
A victim of a kind of rage
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
I got to give it up
Find someone to love me
I got to let it go
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
Find someone that I can care for
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta let it go
I gotta give it up
Oh mother, oh father
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
I gotta give it up
Credits
Written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Programming and guitars by Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Album
Song
On April 14th 2003, this beautiful song premiered online on the website of MSN. Like she did before in Promise To Try, Inside Of Me and Mer Girl, Madonna sings about her mothers death. But though the lyrics are sad and emotional, it's an uptempo dance song. Madonna's voice is high pitched as if it's a little girl singing about her mum and dad.
Madonna comments on this song: "It's a way to free me from the pain for my mother's death, but i'm not asking for a medal for finding my way in life or for compassing for suffering so much. It isn't an excuse like 'I'm like this because i've suffered so much when I was a child.' These excuses are rubbish, because you have to be responsible of all the things you do in your whole life."
The song was remixed by Johnny Rocks and Peter Rauhofer but didn't get a commercial single release. However the Rauhofer mix went up to #9 on the Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play chart in June 2005, making it the 7th top 10 hit from the American Life album on that chart.
Tour
While the lyrics are clearly about her mother, Madonna performed this song on the Re-Invention Tour as a homage to both her mother and Jesus. Jesus appears on the big side screens, while the center screen shows a big red pounding heart. Madonna herself sits in the middle of the stage, playing the acoustic guitar. Right before she starts the rap, the beat kicks in, making the crowd go wild. A picture of her mother flashes on the screens while she finishes her rap. Then there's a bridge to the first verse of Intervention, followed by again the Mother And Father chorus.