A Real Mother For Ya

Album: A Real Mother for Ya (1977)
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Songfacts®:

  • Though wine improves with age, the same is not necessarily true of songwriters. This piece of funk was produced way after Watson's sell-by date, and he probably only got away with the title because in 1977 most music pundits didn't realize that "mother" was half a word. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

Comments: 4

  • Robert James Piellusch from Kalamazoo, MichiganI was a D.J. at our college radio station in 1977 and we played this song "all the time." I have always loved the play on words and I don't know who the person is that made the negative comment, but they have no idea what they are talking about. Great song and I am posting it for mother's day in 2021 !
  • Glenn from Upstate Sc I really enjoyed his music
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1977 {September 10th} Johnny 'Guitar' Watson performed "A Real Mother For Ya" on the nationally syndicated television program, 'Soul Train'...
    At the time the song was at position #43 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart, it was also in it's fifteenth and final week on the chart, and ten weeks earlier it had peaked at #5 {for 2 weeks}...
    It reached #41 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart...
    Between 1955 and 1995 the Houston, Texas native had twenty records on the Hot R&B Singles chart, three made the Top 10...
    Besides the above "A Real Mother For Ya", his two other Top 10 records were "These, Lonely Lonely Nights" {#10 in 1955} and "Cuttin' In" {#6 in 1962}...
    John Watson Jr. passed away at the age of 61 on May 17th, 1996 {heart attack}...
    May he and Don Cornelius {1936 - 2012} R.I.P.
  • David from Chesapeake, VaI thought it would be a shame for the only comment about this wonderful artist to be negative. To assume that people didn't know what "mother" meant in 1977 is pretty lame. Johnny was a cult favorite that was very popular with those in America who heard him. His songs got plenty of airtime where I grew up. He did not gain widespread notoriety because he was with a record label that was not very successful. It was hard for a black artist to sign with the major record companies in that time period. I loved his music and I'm sure there are many others who did also.
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