Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child

'Cause I am.  My Mother died 35 years ago, but October 21 is the centennial of her birth.  That's tomorrow, as I write this, and I thought I'd honor her memory a little, which is somewhat odd, because I often feel guilty about how seldom I think of her, and I'm not sure why.  I even have a photo of the two of us holding hands on the beach at, likely, Kennebunkport, when I was maybe 6, sitting on the windowsill above my desk, looking right at me.  She was a wonderful mother, I loved her, I know that she loved me, but gone is gone.

Which doesn't mean I don't remember lots of details from her life, facts which have formed and informed me:  she was a first-generation American, born in the house she lived in in North Walpole, NH, to Polish immigrant parents.  Zosia Bernadette Prybylo-- such a lovely name, Zosia, although, unfortunately, it was often Anglicized to "Sophie Smith," as Americans are known for our willingness to adapt to others' cultures and languages.  Her father died when she was very young, so it fell to her to help support the family when she was 13.  She quit school and went to work on the night shift at a brush factory in Bellows Falls, VT, more than a two mile walk from her home, a walk she had to make alone, at night, after a ten-hour shift.  She always hated whippoorwills after those years, as her walks home were often accompanied by their eerie and mournful calls--at least to those lonely 13-year-old ears. 

On payday she would turn over all but 10 cents of her week's pay to my grandmother, and on Saturday nights--the big night out-- she and her best friend would go to The Chimes Cafe in BF, split a cup of coffee, and watch all the people passing by, going to places she couldn't afford to go--movies, clothing stores, dances-- all pastimes for those better off.  Growing up in this state of lost childhood and privation was actually a mixed blessing for my mom, I think; she was necessarily frugal, and never really recovered from those early years of having nothing, but it enabled her to make do with little as needed and, more importantly, to appreciate the things she had when she had 'em, and to instill that into her children.  The downside to the trials of her early life were a serious case of insecurity, an inferiority complex, and much self-doubt:  those attributes I'm sure she never intended to pass along, but, alas....

I have discussed in an earlier post my mother's depression and how it brought about her premature death, a chance to escape from a life which had become something she simply didn't want to deal with anymore.  But she was one of those people John Stewart sings about in "Mother Country," which I attached to the post-alert, and which I'll play in my show, one of "those faces in the old photographs,"  people just doin' the best they could and who did it "pretty up and walkin' good."  Here's to them, and their memories, and to Moms everywhere, living or dead.

And here's a bunch of songs about 'em:

Call Your Mother                                                             Johnny Cash
Every Mother's Son                                                          Chris Smither
Every Mother's Son                                                          Traffic
Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby....                              Stones
Hymn To The Mother                                                       Charles Lloyd
In My Mother's Eyes                                                         Al Di Meola
Mother                                                                               John Lennon
Mother                                                                               Pink Floyd
Mother's Spiritual                                                              Laura Nyro
Mother And Child Reunion                                               Paul Simon
Oh Mommy                                                                       Brewer & Shipley
Mother Angel                                                                    Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters
Mother Beautiful                                                               Sly & The Family Stone
Mother Country                                                                 John Stewart
Mother Earth                                                                      Tom Rush
Mother Mother                                                                  Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Motherless Children                                                          Eric Clapton
Mother Nature's Son                                                          Fab
Mother Popcorn                                                                 James Brown
Never Tell Your Mother She's Out Of Tune                      Ellen McIlwaine
A Real Mother For Ya                                                       Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child                      Van Morrison
That Was Your Mother                                                       Paul Simon
Your Mother Should Know                                                Fabs
This Is To Mother You                                                       Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
100 Years Ago                                                                    Stones
My Mummy's Dead                                                           John Lennon

Hope you can join me Tuesday from noon till two on 91.5 FM, or wool.fm on the webs.

For this once, "Mother" is the whole word, not just a half....