A time will come in every girl’s life when she’ll finally meet the man of her dreams and must make the tough decision to leave her first love, her mother. After meeting the love of her life, Carrie Underwood released the tear-jerking country ballad “Mama’s Song” as a loving tribute to the woman who raised her.
Released in 2010 as the fourth and final single from her third studio album, Play On, “Mama’s Song” peaked No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It won the BMI Award for Songwriter of the Year as well as two American Country Awards: Female Single of the Year and Female Music Video of the Year. It even earned a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Country Solo Performance.
A Song About Finding The Man Of Her Dreams and Leaving The Nest
Written by Carrie Underwood along with songwriters Kara DioGuardi, Marty Frederiksen, and Luke Laird, “Mama’s Song” is Underwood’s way of reassuring her mother that her about-to-be-married baby girl is in good hands.
She spent the entire song confidently and tenderly telling her mother that walking down the aisle doesn’t mean goodbye. At the same time, she looks forward to a future where she’ll hear the same sentiment from her own child:
“And he is good so good. He treats your little girl like a real man should. He is good, so good. He makes promises he keeps. No, he’s never gonna leave. So don’t you worry about me. Don’t you worry about me.”
Laird gave us a glimpse of the day they wrote the tune, the same day they wrote Underwood’s 2010 hit “Undo It.” He told The Boot: “We were in Los Angeles at Sunset Marquis Hotel … I got this call from Carrie’s management, and they were like, ‘Hey, do you want to go out LA and write with Carrie?’ I was like, ‘Well, yeah. I’d write with Carrie in Dothan, Alabama if I have to!'”
“Carrie just came out with that first line, ‘Mama, you taught me to do the right things.’ And this was before she was engaged, obviously, but she was in a relationship. We knew where this was coming from, Laird continued. “Nobody was like, ‘Oh, are you and Mike [Fisher] going to get married?’ We just went with it and thought it was something cool to write.”
Laird further revealed that the song became special to his fellow songwriter, Kara DioGuardi, who had lost her mom. Laird also recalled the time he played “Mama’s Song” to his wife’s mother, who was all teary-eyed after. “She thinks that’s the best song I’ve ever written because she’s a mom and her daughter married me,” he said.
Carrie Underwood Enlisted Her Loved Ones For The “Mama’s Song” Video
Carrie Underwood not only co-wrote “Mama’s Song” for her mother, Carole Underwood, but she cast her in the music video too. And as if that wasn’t enough, Underwood’s husband, Mike Fisher, also appeared in the clip. Before the music begins, Underwood’s mother can be heard saying:
“You just don’t think when your child is small that in just a few years it’s gonna be completely different. And you look back and say ‘Where did that time go?’ It goes by fast.”
The music video, which is as poignant as the song, was shot a month after Underwood and Fisher exchanged vows at their storybook, summer wedding in Atlanta. The short clip features the happy couple en route to their honeymoon while her mother flipped through a scrapbook filled with beautiful memories of the two of them.
When the song ends, Carole closed the scrapbook and bid her daughter farewell as she was about to get on a plane with her husband. You can watch the tear-jerking video below.