March 19th is Mothering Sunday – a day to celebrate Mums in all their glory – new mums, single mums, step-mums, mums-to-be, adoptive mums, foster mums, the mums who long to be, the mums with empty arms but hearts full of love, the mums in our hearts but no longer in our lives.
Here are some of the AVC Immedia team’s Mum-Music memories!
When my daughter, Poppy, was a baby she wouldn’t be held if you were sat down – only if you stood up and kept moving! This lead to A LOT of dancing her round the kitchen to whatever songs were on MTV at the time, so I spent a lot of 2015 listening to OMI – Cheerleader! Every time I hear that song it takes me right back to that summer and the endless dancing! Strangely – Poppy loves that song now so I do wonder if it’s ingrained in her brain as it will forever be in mine.
Ahhhh my mum LOVES Tom Jones
Her favourite is Green Green Grass of home – she says it reminds her of growing up in rural Barbados and tells a great story. Despite living here for 50+ years she feels like Barbados will always be home and the descriptions of green fields in the lyrics remind her of the Bajan countryside!
My music to remind me of my Mum is Glen Campbell – Galveston.
Mum loved Glen Campbell. He was the regular audiocassette accompaniment on innumerable car journeys to see my Mum’s family in Ballymoney in the north of NI. Galveston stands out as the song we would all sing along to.
I still love it, and Glen Campbell generally, and Jimmy Webb, the writer of Galveston and so many other wonderful songs. What a singer Glen was.
I have a song that takes me back to when I became a Mummy. Clean Bandit – Rather be was number one around the time Callum was born. The lyrics “when I am with you there’s no place I would rather be” felt very fitting to how I felt at that time and still to this day. Whenever I hear that song, it takes me back to that cloud 9 feeling.
Sash and many other 90’s dance tunes remind me of my mum and being in her car as a kid. I have her to thank for some real bangers that I listen to religiously.
I owe a large my of my personal love of music to my mum’s passion for it.
It wasn’t just the music she played around the house – Boney M, ABBA and Queen spring to mind – it was the stories she’d tell me about her teenage self loving the music scene of the 60s. Her stories included watching the Beatles on TV and thinking she’d never seen or heard anything like it before. Then going to school the next day and The Beatles were the only subject her and her friends spoke about. I could relate her passion to my own excitement about music, but there was also a jealousy that she’d experienced such a thrilling time that I never would.
My parent’s record collection included all the 7-inch singles they’d bought during the 60s and I’d spend many an hour trawling through them, listening to songs that are favourites of mine to this day.
Growing up Eric Clapton / Cream was always being played in the house / car. My mum is an Eric Clapton fanatic! Layla and Sunshine of your love are tunes I can always remember singing and dancing too!
With my daughter Amelia, she loved Massive Attack, Safe from Harm and Lately was one of her favs. When she was very young I would pop it on, and she would chill out instantly! Shame she is not into them now.
In memory of my mum it would be “Volare” by Dean Martin.
What comes to mind for me at first would be songs from The Eagles like the classic ‘Hotel California’, but I didn’t properly clock onto this until I was a bit older.
I think for a song (that is probably a bit cheesy) that instantly brings back some very happy memories, it would be Daniel Bedingfield – If You’re Not The One. My mum had his whole album bought for her after we realised she quite liked his songs when they played on the radio in the car.
So…that meant said album quickly migrated its way into her car and regularly whilst riding in mums taxi (be it to school or some club somewhere) this was quite often the background music and If you’re not the one was the song she would turn up full whack and we would sing our hearts out laughing and smiling. It’s a cheesy song now but the memories to look back on are very happy ones and ones I’m rather fond of too.
My darling Mum always loved George Harrison, My Sweet Lord, so I had it played in the church for her funeral. People joked afterwards about what the priests and the Bishop must have been thinking as her coffin left the cathedral with the ‘hare Krishna’ lyrics ringing out. Mum also loved Jimmy Durante, Make Someone Happy because it was her dad’s favourite. And she loved Robbie Williams – She’s the One.
For me it has to be Sheryl Crow … Mum loves Everyday is a Winding Road, A Change Would Do You Good & If It Makes You Happy, I remember singing along top of our voices in the car! I also remember her turning the radio up at breakfast time to the B52’s and Love Shack and dancing around! And of course Fleetwood Mac, Mum & Dad love em!