04. Your Mama Danced The Night Away

2 weeks ago by @knobbyneggins815

Liner Notes

#guywithpiano #grief #loss #ballad

This song is dedicated to my wonderful niece, who I thought deserved a song more than most. Long story short, early on in Covid my mother and I ended up having to raise her. In the span of a year or so she lost both of her parents to addiction, leaving us to pick up the pieces with a little girl who was never equipped to understand any of it.

She's amazing and smart and silly and full of all of the anger and rage and sadness that you'd expect an orphan to have. Somedays she can be seven handfuls. Others she can be an angel full of more empathy than most people will ever muster.

After about two years I had to leave and get going with my own life. It broke my heart, but both my mother and I were in stable enough spots to make the change and if I didn't leave, I wouldn't be with my partner, and so...yeah. It was hard.

My niece is doing well these days. She's in therapy, she's doing gymnastics just like her mama did when she was little, and I try to see them as much as I can, when I can. My mother is in her 60's and having to raise ANOTHER kid, and while I know she's making the best of it, I wish she could have had a peaceful retirement after herself losing so much. It's unfair. And yet, my niece is where she belongs, because this is the place where she can have the best future.

Anyways, to cut to the chase, that little girl deserved a song about her and I wrote her one. I hope she can return to this as she gets older to feel a little better about the shit hand she was dealt.

Thanks for listening if you do.

Lyrics

Verse 1:
You were barely in the world,
Before the world fell apart,
And though the feeble and the foolish
Gave you quite the head start,

You were raised around a sickness,
So in the back of our minds
It was a matter of time.

I wonder what you will remember;
Your grandfather on the couch.
Your mother pacing in the bedroom.
Hiding by the heater in the old house.

Your daddy with your dog,
Who bit me and left a scar
On the day that you were born.

Pre-Chorus 1:
It seems so hard to know,
But when all is said and done,
We are the ones to show you
Where you come from.

Chorus:
Your mama danced the night away
With you cradled in her arms.
You will always be her baby,
And she will always be your mom.

Yeah, I think you oughtta know,
So I put it in a song,
You were just a little girl,
You were never in the wrong.

She's in everything you do,
Through the darkest of your days,
And you know that you can keep her
Like a picture in a frame.

Take her out when it's not easy,
For as long as you will live
You deserve to have a life.
You deserve to be a kid.

Verse 2:
Your grandmother and your auntie,
They're doing all they can
To keep filling you with love,
And I hope you understand

That all the anger and confusion
The sadness in your heart,
It don't change who you are.

You're stronger than you know,
And you're way funnier than me.
I hated moving out on you,
But we're where we gotta be.

I hold onto every message
That we recorded on the phone,
It reminds me of home.

Pre-C 2:
It seems so hard to breathe,
But when we're closer to the end,
You'll be the one who carries all that we left.

Your mama danced the night away
With you cradled in her arms.
You will always be her baby,
And she will always be your mom.

Yeah, I think you oughtta know,
So I put it in a song,
You were just a little girl,
You were never in the wrong.

She's in everything you do,
Through the darkest of your days,
And you know that you can keep her
Like a picture in a frame.

Take her out when it's not easy,
For as long as you will live
You deserve to have a life.
You deserve to be a kid.

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