That's My Mom

Lyrics

[Intro ☕][Energy: Low]
(single acoustic guitar — sparse, deliberate)
(long silence between each note)
(the sound of a man sitting down to say something
he should have said sooner)

[Verse 1 ☕][Energy: Low]
Little girl born to poverty
In Galax VA
Loved her daddy
Loved her momma

First went her daddy
Then went her momma
Little orphan girl
In Galax VA

[Chorus ☕][Energy: Low-Mid]
(guitar stays sparse — no swell yet)
That's my mom
And I'm so proud
That's my mom
And her song
Is here
And now

[Verse 2 ☕][Energy: Low]
Her brother Jim took her in
Loved her like a father
A trucker with a new marriage

Then went Jim

A little orphan girl
All of 15
Enter Jerry Harrington
A sailor
Plus ten

A home
A life
A family
Soon begins

[Chorus ☕][Energy: Low-Mid]
That's my mom
And I'm so proud
That's my mom
And her song
Is here
And now

[Verse 3 ☕][Energy: Low]
(piano enters — single notes, barely there)
What can I say
Time moved on
Got her GED
Learned to live

Then went the marriage

Living on her own
Making her way
She wasn't her beginning
Just shaped
That way

[Chorus ☕][Energy: Low-Mid]
That's my mom
And I'm so proud
That's my mom
And her song
Is here
And now

[Verse 4 ☕][Energy: Low]
Jerry got us kids
My older sister
And I

Mom found love
For a time
With Ann

Never did I wonder
Where her love lay
Every card
Every call
Every trip
From states away

[Chorus ☕][Energy: Low-Mid]
That's my mom
And I'm so proud
That's my mom
And her song
Is here
And now

[Verse 5 ☕][Energy: Low]
(strings enter for the first time — barely audible)
(like grief arriving quietly)
So much more
Will be written
So much more
To say

Last two years of high school
Was just her
And I

I saw her work
Cleaning houses for pay
No jobs available

Never was I naked
And I always ate

[Chorus 😭][Energy: Mid]
(strings rise slightly — still sparse)
That's my mom
And I'm so proud
That's my mom
And her song
Is here
And now

[Final Chorus 😭][Energy: Mid]
(strings fuller now — the only moment of fullness)
(guitar stays sparse underneath)
That's my mom
That's my mom
That's my mom

(long silence)

Now gone away

[Outro ☕][Energy: Low][Fade Out]
(guitar returns alone)
(single notes)
(vast silence between each one)
(strings fade to nothing)
(the last note holds)
(then releases)

That's my mom

...now gone away