New Mama Explained

New Mama
Artist:Neil Young
Album:Tonight's the Night
Released:June 20, 1975
Recorded:September 10, 1973
Studio:Studio Instrument Rentals, Hollywood
Genre:Folk rock
Length:2:11
Label:Reprise
Producer:

"New Mama" is a song by Neil Young, recorded initially for his 1973 album Tonight's the Night.

It is said to have been inspired by the birth in 1972 of Zeke, his son with Carrie Snodgress.[1] It is a slow song with sparse instrumentation—guitar, piano, and vibes.

Critics have described the song as "tender"[2] and "poignantly lovely,"[1] but noted also that while it offered "some hope in family life," Tonight's the Night as a whole, an album of mourning, "did not offer solutions to the personal and professional problems it posed."[3] Stephen Stills recorded the song for the 1975 album Stills. Young referred to the song on his 1982 album Trans, in the song "Transformer Man" ("Every morning when I look in your eyes, / I feel electrified by you"), and in "Big Time", a song from his 1996 album Broken Arrow ("I'm still living in dreamland").[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Mojo Collection. 4. Canongate. 2007. 9781847676436.
  2. Book: Bielen, Kenneth G.. The Words and Music of Neil Young. Praeger. 2008. 9780275999025. 32.
  3. Book: All Music Guide Required Listening: Classic Rock. Chris. Woodstra. John. Bush. Stephen Thomas. Erlewine. Hal Leonard. 2007. 9780879309176.
  4. Book: Williams, Paul. Neil Young: Love to Burn. Omnibus. 2011. 9780857127334. 92, 128.