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MOTHER & FATHER


adreeyen

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I think the "rap" is the integral center of the song. IMO I've always thought its both musically and lyrically akin to a nursery rhyme. A 45 year old woman revisiting her 5 year old self. Even the way the vocals at the end are tweaked to sound childlike "oh Mother, oh Father, I got to give it uuuuuuuup."

The American Life album may be as polarizing as Hard Candy amongst fans, but I've never NOT thought of it as anything but a beautiful recording of therapy sessions. Mother and Father in particular being the biggest paradox musically and lyrically.

thats a great way of looking at the song. I do understand what she was going for, it just doesn't really click with me. Surprisingly, some of my friends who aren't big madonna fans, seem to enjoy this song more than other on this album

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I love adreeyen threads!!!!

I pour my heart and soul into them. :inlove:

This thread was inspired by Not4Pussies by the way. He deserves credit. Without him this thread would never have existed.

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It's probably one of the best and catchiest choruses in a Madonna song in the past 10 years. Underrated and overlooked gem. So glad she performed the glorious acoustic version of it on tour.

Btw, same situation as with Love Spent - classic Madonna song with insanely catchy chorus but almost ended up as a bonus track. Also underrated but got amazing treatment on tour with an acoustic version.

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Guest bluejean

IMO I've always thought its both musically and lyrically akin to a nursery rhyme.

:lol: Yes

Written on the same day as 'The English Roses' apparently :D

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Guest Not4Pussies

I pour my heart and soul into them. :inlove:

This thread was inspired by Not4Pussies by the way. He deserves credit. Without him this thread would never have existed.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or you actually mean it. Either way, you're welcome cause I was the one that brought up the song in a conversation we had on the phone the night before you posted this thread. Yes, we communicate outside this forum every day.

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:chuckle:

Anyway, I'm loving all the love. :cool: I wanted to share this track with y'all that my non-Madonna fan shared with me. It samples the vocal of Mother & Father.

Oddly enough, the track is called "Get Enough," which I think was because the producers mistakingly heard the "give it up" as "get enough." Funny, but still a good sample.

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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 don't think she's ever written anything as truthful, as honest, as revealing as that part. To understand Madonna and how she was and still is you need to hear and understand what she says right there. It's most definitely the most personal, most vulnerable and most self-aware line by her. That line alone explains a lot about her.

Just think about how all that she says in it shows up in her life, how it manifests itself. In many of her songs she sings about some sort of or some form of defiance and resilience but where is that coming from? Or what is the basis of her work ethic? Where did her anger in the early 1990s come from? I think that part of M&F is partly an explanation for all of these and many more aspects of her life and career and the songs she sings about.

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Guest bluejean

I don't think she's ever written anything as truthful, as honest, as revealing as that part. To understand Madonna and how she was and still is you need to hear and understand what she says right there. It's most definitely the most personal, most vulnerable and most self-aware line by her. That line alone explains a lot about her.

Just think about how all that she says in it shows up in her life, how it manifests itself. In many of her songs she sings about some sort of or some form of defiance and resilience but where is that coming from? Or what is the basis of her work ethic? Where did her anger in the early 1990s come from? I think that part of M&F is partly an explanation for all of these and many more aspects of her life and career and the songs she sings about.

Oh I agree, those lyrics are rather significant and as someone who has lost numerous people close to them including one of my parents I strongly relate to it.

I just personally don't love her choice to speak/rap those lines. It's not the words I find akward but the delivery. But anyway. Still a great song!

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Guest bluejean

I do think she's had other songs/lyrics equally as personal/vulnerable/self aware etc. Eg Promise To Try, Rescue Me. I think it's very interesting she wrote a song about her mothers death again so far into her career. It just illustrates to me that it's something you just never get over. As we've said before on this forum and as Madonna has also pointed out, some songs you wouldn't even realise are about her mother. She simply changes them into love songs because she realises the public aren't going to lap up song after song about the death of her mother. It's something only some people can relate to but a song about a broken relationship is something anyone can relate to.

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Guest bluejean

You get better at it but you don't get over losing a parent. I know from experience.

Exactly. Because that person is irreplaceable. And they play a role in all stages of your life.

For me, my Dad died when I was a teenager and there are always times I feel I need him, or I wonder what advice or role he would play now. You just crave that relationship don't you? I don't like to draw comparisons with these things but I think though losing your mother as a young child would be even more confusing. It hits children even harder I think. But then I have friends who have terrible parents, abusive parents or an absent father and those situations can be equally as hurtful for people I think.

What is your situation N4P if you don't mind me asking?

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Guest Not4Pussies

I was not a child or a teen when my dad passed away. I was 22 but it still hit me hard. First death in my family. I was in shock. I went through a really bad depression. I couldn't get out of bed. I dropped out of school and I missed work for a month and a half. Seven years later, there is not one day that goes by that I don't think about him. Sometimes I get this urge to want to go talk to him. To ask him for advice. Sometimes I think about how I wish I had bonded with him more and was less of a punk towards him. But yes it affects you deeply and it stays with you. That's why Mer Girl gets to me as well.

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I was not a child or a teen when my dad passed away. I was 22 but it still hit me hard. First death in my family. I was in shock. I went through a really bad depression. I couldn't get out of bed. I dropped out of school and I missed work for a month and a half. Seven years later, there is not one day that goes by that I don't think about him. Sometimes I get this urge to want to go talk to him. To ask him for advice. Sometimes I think about how I wish I had bonded with him more and was less of a punk towards him. But yes it affects you deeply and it stays with you. That's why Mer Girl gets to me as well.

:(

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