Mother's Garden

Truth Tea

Mother's Garden by Michael Tolcher

Recommended by Uncle Manny

"You know I love Michael's music. He wrote this song about the Chattahoochee River back in the '80s, or maybe in the '90s, when the river was having problems with pollution. Also if you look up the history of the Chattahoochee River in the Atlanta area it's very interesting. Back in the '70s there were ties to a child serial killer who used to dump bodies there."

I have to say I was distressed by the quote from my uncle for this song. It's not often you get a song with mother in the title and murder in the description.

But I'm relating the song more to the pollution than the child serial killer. As far as I can tell, "Mother" is referring to Mother Nature. Sometimes she weeps, weakened with disease. Silently she screams, "Rescue me."

That's pretty powerful imagery, and if it's not a metaphor for planet Earth, I'm gonna peace out.

In all seriousness, it's a good, important message that I think comes across really well because of the simplicity of the melody and the lyrics. The fully-produced version is my favorite because it's beautiful, but I kind of like the intimacy of the video I posted above, too. Just Michael and the guitar. It feels like it could be a little concert at an environmental charity event.

Key Moment: Each time Michael throws it up into falsetto on the word screams. It's like a little scream in itself. I get chills. Guy's voice is bomb.

Save the planet, y'all.

Overview:

Genre:
Pop Rock

Favorite Lyrics:
We are alone; it's you and I in this whole galaxy.
We can't survive without each other - are you listening?
I need your help to heal myself when I am suffering.

Verdict:
Mother's Garden is precious.

If the link to the proper version doesn't work, you should probably go buy the album because it's really worth hearing I swear.