In between lyrics of peace, upbeat psychedelic tunes and love ballads, John Lennon’s discography features one experiment that stood out at the time.
When writing his album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band – backed by Ringo Starr on drums, and Klaus Voormann on bass – in 1970, Lennon found inspiration for one track in an unexpected place.
“Well, I was watching TV as usual, in California, and there was this old horror movie on, and the bells sounded like that to me”, he described, referencing the beginning sounds of his track ‘Mother’, in a Rolling Stone interview from 1971.
“It was probably different, because those were actually bells slowed down that they used on the album. They just sounded like that and I thought oh, that’s how to start ‘Mother’”.
He also said that’s how he wanted to start the album as a whole: “I knew ‘Mother’ was going to be the first track so…”
‘Mother’, a haunting ballad that served as the album’s leading single, features a minimalist beat right after the opening haunting bell sounds, and John’s vocal performance in which he portrays emotion by bellowing out literal yells.
At the time, many speculated the song’s lyrics would be inspired by Lennon feeling abandonment from his parents – though he later denied the claims on a posthumously-released live album.
When asked in the same interview if he felt the album would have any number one records, Lennon replied: “I keep thinking ‘Mother’ is a commercial record, because all the time I was writing it, it was the one I was singing the most, it’s the one that seemed to catch on in my head. I’m convinced that ‘Mother’ is a commercial record”.
Against the legend’s predictions, ‘Mother’ never charted above the 43rd position of Billboard’s top 100. That’s not to say it wasn’t impactful, though.
Throughout the years, ‘Mother’ was covered by artists spanning multiple genres and audiences – including Barbra Streisand in 1971, Christina Aguilera in 2007, David Bowie in his posthumous album released in 2021, and Lou Reed several times.
It also got a punk re-vamp by Australian band X in 1984, a South African release by Ratau Mike Makhalemele in 1990, an italian version (‘Madre’) by Mia Martini in 1972 and even inspired the title of Shigesato Itoi’s Mother video game series.