For All Mothers, A Musical Bouquet

by Kevin Burton

   Don’t you dare forget Mother’s Day. It’s coming real soon. Why not make it happen for mom the way she made it happen for you?

   This post is especially for the mothers out there.  I hope others will enjoy it too, but a special shoutout to the mothers. 

   This is your personal Mother’s Day bouquet. Since it’s Tuesday on Page 7 we’ll make this a musical bouquet.

   My only regret is we’ll have to leave out some beautiful flowers.  There is only so much room in the vase. 

   We’ll start with a red rose from “Spanish Harlem.” This rose symbolizes perseverance and resilience, like the rose in the song, growing up through concrete, battling through hard times.  A mother’s heart doesn’t think twice before fighting for her children. 

  Songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and singer Ben E. King recorded this song under extreme time pressure, with just a few minutes left in the recording session.  Mothers have that sort of time pressure as well.

   Next let’s add the flower of freedom from “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty.  The song speaks to running away, freedom and ease and says “You belong somewhere you feel free.”

   You won’t always get that, but this is your special day!

  This bouquet includes a pink carnation from “American Pie.”  You’ll never forget what you’ve been through, the places you’ve been to, the poetry in the everyday.

   This is not included, but take a peek outside and see if you also got a pickup truck for Mother’s Day.

   Also included, oleanders from the Steely Dan song “My Old School.”  The oleander represents seduction and desire according to Parade Magazine.  If you want to wrestle down Steely Dan lyrics on Mother’s Day, be my guest, or just enjoy the pink and pale yellow hues!

   Please enjoy a daisy from “Lazy Day” by Spanky and Our Gang. “Blue skies, sunshine flowers blooming, children saying hello” seems quite pleasant for your special day. 

   As I was daydreaming about “The Rain, The Park and Other Things,” a girl came by with a contribution for your bouquet.  She said it was from the Cowsills so I was just trying not to step in anything.  She said she was the flower girl, and isn’t that a good friend to make on Mother’s Day?

   And why couldn’t they just call the song “I Love The Flower Girl” and saved us all the confusion?

   Your bouquet includes a buttercup from “Build Me Up, Buttercup” by the Foundations.  According to Wikipedia buttercups are poisonous when eaten. The relationship from the song doesn’t seem so nice either. But it’s one of the catchier unhappy songs from the 60s, don’t you agree?

    We’re going to slip in another pink Carnation from the Marty Robbins song “A White Sport Coat and A Pink Carnation,” because the carnation is the flower most closely associated with Mother’s Day, according to Wikipedia. 

   “Carnations have come to represent Mother’s Day since Anna Jarvis delivered 500 of them at the first celebration in 1908,” according to the Mother’s Day entry.

   “Many religious services held later adopted the custom of giving away carnations. This also started the custom of wearing a carnation on Mother’s Day. The founder, Anna Jarvis, chose the carnation because it was the favorite flower of her mother,” the entry reads.

   We’ll complete the bouquet with more roses, as the musical landscape is filled with them. Here’s one from “The Yellow Rose of Texas” in case you actually did get a pickup truck.

   Here’s a rose from “Love Is A Rose,” by Linda Ronstadt.  “I want to see what’s never been seen. I want to live that age-old dream,” Ronstadt sings.  May that dream be yours on Mother’s Day!

  But Lynn Anderson is and always will be the chief proprietor, tender and keeper of the “Rose Garden.”

   She had a firm grasp on reality, but sang “Smile for a while and let’s be jolly. Love shouldn’t be so melancholy. Come along and share the good times while we can.”

   Being jolly. If that works for you mothers out there, it works for me too.  Grab it Sunday, and guess what?  That feeling can and should spill into the days thereafter.