Toppa Top 10: Ten ‘Mama’ Tunes For Mother’s Day

Words by Jesse Serwer and Martei Korley, Photo by Martei Korley—

Mother’s Day is this Sunday—don’t forget to tell the lady who brought you into this world how much you appreciate her. Or you could just let these tunes do the talking.

10. Gyptian, “Mama”

Before he crossed over by telling the ladies how he wan fi hold yuh, this tribute to motherly love was one of Gyptian’s best known tunes.

9. Peter Tosh, “Watcha Gonna Do”

From the Legalize It album, this country-fied Tosh tune speaks to the role of women in Jamaican/Caribbean families, as Peter’s narrator looks to his mama for guidance after apprising her of her husband and son’s arrests.

8. Bounty Killer, “Mama”/”Miss Ivy Last Son”

For an artist with such a rough edge to him, Bounty Killer was never shy about expressing love for his mumma, Miss Ivy, who died earlier this year. Thanks to tunes like this one, she was possibly the best known matriarch in Jamaican music since Mama Cedella.

7. Bob Marley, “Johnny Was”

Bob Marley’s mother, Cedella Booker, was not entirely shocked when her son, Anthony Booker, was shot and killed by police in a Miami area mall in 1990. His half-brother Bob, she told a newspaper reporter, had prophesied this 14 years earlier when he wrote and sang “Johnny Was,” with its lyrics, “Woman hold her head and cry, `cause her son has been shot down in the street and died.” Despite the bleak circumstances it describes, like most everything sung by Bob, “Johnny Was” manages to feel uplifting.

6. Alton Ellis, “Mother and Father”

The great Alton Ellis doesn’t sing about his mother and father so much as to them on this rare and funky cut recorded for his debut album, Sings Rock & Soul.

5. Heptones, “Mama Say”

This tune from the Heptones’ classic 1976 LP, Night Food, details the certain type of bond formed between mother and son in poverty and without the presence of a father. “Mama say, I ain’t got no food today/ Tit for tat, butter for fish/ Here’s a little porridge in the dish/ Mama say, you can’t leave the house today/There’s a hole in the roof, you’ve got to make it waterproof.”

4. Dennis Brown, “Oh Mother”

All mothers should be lucky enough to have a son with a voice as comforting as Dennis Brown to tell her to “cry no more.” Devastating performance here from the Crown Prince of Reggae off the Errol Thompson-produced Visions of Dennis Brown LP…

3. Junior/Shinehead, “Mama Used to Say”

“Mama Used to Say,” by British-Jamaican R&B singer Junior Giscombe, is one of those bubbly, effervescent R&B hits from the early ’80s that we’ll never stop singing along to on Sunday afternoons. Shinehead’s cover version is a whole ‘nother thing entirely with a stark, minimal edge not unlike his classic cover of “Billie Jean” (which “Mama Used to Say” appeared as a B-side to). And we can’t forget the Born Jamericans and Mad Lion version, “Gotta Get Mine.”

2. Garnet Silk, “Mama”

Even without the backstory, “Mama” would be one of the most gorgeous tunes in a catalog typified by gorgeous tunes. But the fact that Garnet Silk died while unsuccessfully attempting to rescue his mother from a burning house makes it one of his most impactful songs, capable of pulling at anyone’s heartstrings.

1. Sizzla, “Thank U Mamma”

Firebrand Bobo artists don’t normally cross over into the mainstream with family value-based lyrics, but this is exactly what Sizzla accomplished with “Thank U Mamma,” from his gold-standard LP, Da Real Thing. Employing heartfelt lyrics over a gospel tinged Nyabinghi riddim, it simply connects immediately with listeners. It’s the straight orward everyday references and the emotions they conjure up which makes the record special. Sizzla’s thankfulness is evident in this pic—that’s him performing “Thank U Mamma” for his Mama Lou, at March’s Sizzla Acoustic show in Kingston.