He Didn't Mention His Mother

Album: New View (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song finds Friedberger in a sweetly melancholy mood, ruefully recalling an oblique encounter and its lasting effects:

    I so wanted something to happen that day
    And then what I wanted, it happened
    And that just don't always happen that way to me


    Friedberger told The Guardian regarding the song: "That was just purely something that happened. I said it, I remembered it and... that's it. It has to be based in reality, otherwise it doesn't really mean anything to me."
  • The title doesn't appear in the song, but the question remains, why didn't the titular "he" mention his mother? And should the unnamed dude have done so?

    Eleanor Friedberger explained to Mojo: "I had met someone recently, and was thinking about our interactions. I know this sounds like I'm a crazy psycho or something (laughs), but I was writing down a list of things about this person that stuck out. And one was that he didn't mention his mother. Which was neither bad or good, it was just something I noticed. Because most people do. In fact, a lot of people I meet blame a lot of things on their mother."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."