Mister Holland

Album: All Rise (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This brassy southern soul jam finds Gregory Porter taking inspiration from his teenage dating days. On one occasion, he turned up at his white love interest's house, only for her father to send him away because of his black skin. "'Mister Holland' is a song about equality," said the singer. "It's about the desire for mutual respect and the desire for a young man to be treated like an average teenager."
  • On "Mister Holland," Porter borrows the names of his friend and fellow musician Jools Holland and his daughter Rosie Mae to imagine being warmly welcomed rather than turned away by prejudice. He thanks the white father of his girlfriend for not making any trouble over his black skin.

    By the way, Mister Holland
    I liked the way you treated me like a regular Joe
    I wanted a soda
    And you said Rosie could go


    Porter told The Sun: "I can see Jools opening the door to me, saying, 'Hey, hey mate!' as opposed to the experience I had when I was a young man of 16. I was just trying to do a typical teenage thing, take this girl out for a Coke, right? I came to the door and her daddy was like, 'Get away from my door' and then he called me the N-word. It was so shocking."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And Scandals

Top American Idol Moments: Songs And ScandalsSong Writing

Surprise exits, a catfight and some very memorable performances make our list of the most memorable Idol moments.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott of The WaterboysSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."

Dave Edmunds

Dave EdmundsSongwriter Interviews

A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Lip-Synch Rebels

Lip-Synch RebelsSong Writing

What happens when Kurt Cobain, Iron Maiden and Johnny Lydon are told to lip-synch? Some hilarious "performances."

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."