Mother’s Day Songs
Thirty-four songs for Mother’s Day. Most lists treat this as a single happy occasion. For a substantial number of people it is the hardest Sunday of the year — a mother who has died, one they are estranged from, or a pregnancy that did not happen. The last group is for them and it is not an afterthought.
Updated September 202634 songs
Ten for the day itself
- A Song for MamaBoyz II Men · 1997
A straight thank-you sung by four sons. The most direct song here and the easiest to give.
- The Best DayTaylor Swift · 2008
Written about her own mother and given to her as a Christmas present. Specific in a way nothing else here is.
- Dear Mama2Pac · 1995
Thanks her and admits the difficulty in the same verse, which almost nothing else on this day does.
- Coat of Many ColorsDolly Parton · 1971
For a mother who made things by hand and made you feel rich when the family was not.
- Slipping Through My FingersABBA · 1981
Written from a mother’s side rather than a child’s, which is rare and worth using.
- Wind Beneath My WingsBette Midler · 1989
For a mother who did the unglamorous half of everything. Obvious, and still effective.
- You Raise Me UpJosh Groban · 2003
Big and unambiguous. Best with a live singer; a recording can feel like a broadcast.
- In My LifeThe Beatles · 1965
Gentle and short. Looks back without sounding like a eulogy, which for a living mother matters.
- Simple ManLynyrd Skynyrd · 1973
A mother’s advice to a son. Playing it back to her closes the loop.
- MamaSpice Girls · 1997
About realising too late that she was right. Unfashionable and precisely accurate.
Who this day is hard for
Mother’s Day is not a universally happy occasion and treating it as one is the reason most content about it is useless. People whose mothers have died, people estranged from theirs, people who have lost pregnancies or cannot have children, and mothers who have lost a child all get the same advertising for a fortnight. If you are choosing music for a service, a shop, a radio show or a family gathering, at least one person present is in one of those categories.
For a straightforward celebration, the useful move is the same as any birthday: choose from her own life rather than from the motherhood songbook. What was on when she was nineteen. What she sings badly in the car. A song about the role thanks her for her labour; a song from her own twenties treats her as a person who existed before you did.
If you are giving it rather than programming a room, give it privately. Mother’s Day is heavily performed — brunches, posts, photographs — and a song sent quietly on the Friday before is worth more than the same song posted publicly on the Sunday. She will play it again when nobody is watching.
And if this is the first one after she died, you do not have to do anything at all. The third group below exists for the people who want something for that day, and skipping the whole thing is also a legitimate answer that nobody will tell you out loud.
By what kind of day it is
For a straightforward celebration
A lunch, a card, a phone call. Warm, familiar, and nothing that makes anybody cry into the food.
- Isn’t She LovelyStevie Wonder · 1976
Joyful rather than sentimental, which is rare on this day and welcome.
- Lovely DayBill Withers · 1977
The best background record for a family lunch. Warm without insisting on anything.
- Thank YouDido · 2000
About one person making an otherwise terrible day bearable. Quiet enough to send without ceremony.
- Ribbon in the SkyStevie Wonder · 1982
Warm and grand without being about motherhood, which some mothers much prefer.
- You Are My SunshineJimmie Davis & Charles Mitchell · 1940
If she sang it to you, sing it back. Record it badly rather than sending the studio version.
- The Perfect FanBackstreet Boys · 1999
For a mother who was at every match and concert. She will remember being the only parent there.
- Hey MamaKanye West · 2005
A son itemising what she did. More specific than most of this category manages.
- What a Wonderful WorldLouis Armstrong · 1967
Two minutes with a real ending. The safest thing to put under a slideshow.
For the woman, not the mother
From her own twenties. The group that surprises people and the one they remember.
- Dancing QueenABBA · 1976
For a mother who was seventeen somewhere near 1976 and will tell you about it.
- RespectAretha Franklin · 1967
For a mother who ran everything and was thanked for very little of it. Play it loud.
- I Wanna Dance with SomebodyWhitney Houston · 1987
Pure joy, and a whole generation of mothers has a specific memory attached.
- DreamsFleetwood Mac · 1977
Cool rather than sentimental. Good for a mother who dislikes fuss.
- Girls Just Want to Have FunCyndi Lauper · 1983
For a mother who was in her twenties in the eighties. She knows the video shot for shot.
- Feeling GoodNina Simone · 1965
A song about a new day rather than a past one. For a mother starting something at sixty.
- What a Diff’rence a Day MakesDinah Washington · 1959
For a mother born in the 1930s or 1940s, with more style than sentiment.
- The BestTina Turner · 1989
Unsubtle and completely sincere. Loudly, with the whole room in.
If the day is hard
A mother who has died, an estrangement, a loss, or a mother grieving a child. Not an afterthought — for a lot of people this is the only group that applies.
- Supermarket FlowersEd Sheeran · 2017
About clearing a hospital room after a grandmother died. It is really about the week after.
- Fire and RainJames Taylor · 1970
For a loss that is not finished. Quiet enough to leave on alone.
- MotherJohn Lennon · 1970
About abandonment, and one of the most exposed vocals ever recorded. Not for a card.
- The Living YearsMike + The Mechanics · 1988
About saying it too late. If there is still time, this is the year to use it.
- Both Sides NowJoni Mitchell · 1969
For understanding a mother differently at forty than you did at twenty. Her 2000 recording.
- In My LifeThe Beatles · 1965
Two and a half minutes and it does not push. The right last song of a difficult day.
- LandslideFleetwood Mac · 1975
For a mother facing something, or for a daughter who has become one.
- Here Comes the SunThe Beatles · 1969
For the evening, once the day is over. Three minutes and it does not demand anything.
Three demonstration songs
What a song about your mother sounds like
We wrote these from made-up answers to the same five questions you would fill in. They are not customer work. Mother’s Day produces an enormous amount of identical sentiment; a song that names the street, the saying and the year she was impossible is the opposite of that.
Start her song- Biscuit Tin ElaineAcoustic · a mother who worked eleven years of night shifts2:50
- Ray at Sixty-OneCountry · thirty-one years at the plant, same truck since nineteen3:29
- Marguerite at the StopFolk · forty years from a bus stop in the rain2:19
How it works
Three steps. The first one is the only hard part.
- 1Tell the storyFive questions. Who it’s for, the occasion, three details only you two know, the feeling you want, and the names that have to be in it.
- 2Pick the soundCountry, pop, acoustic, R&B, gospel or rock. A man’s voice or a woman’s.
- 3Listen, then unlockA 30-second preview in about two minutes. Pay only if you love it. You get the full song, the lyrics, and a page you can send.
Common questions
- What are the best Mother’s Day songs?
- “A Song for Mama” if you want to thank her, “The Best Day” if you want it specific, and something from her own twenties if you want to celebrate her rather than her work. The third option is the one almost nobody takes.
- Is a Mother’s Day song the same as a birthday song?
- No. A Mother’s Day song thanks her for the role — the sacrifices, the years. A birthday song celebrates the person who existed before any of that. Getting thanked for your labour is not the same as being celebrated.
- What should I play if my mother has died?
- “Supermarket Flowers”, “Fire and Rain” or “In My Life”, and privately rather than at a gathering. Skipping the day entirely is also a legitimate answer that nobody will tell you out loud.
- What if this day is difficult for other reasons?
- Estrangement, infertility, a lost pregnancy and a lost child all make this the hardest Sunday of the year, and the whole month advertises at you regardless. The third group on this page is for that, and it is not an afterthought.
- Can I get a Mother’s Day song written?
- Yes. Answer five questions about her — her name, three things only your family knows, the feeling you want and the music she likes — and you will hear a 30-second preview in about two minutes. The full song is $19.