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June 21, 2020 9:55 am  #1


Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

Happy Father’s Day to those lucky enough to still have their fathers or are one. This seems an auspicious time to bring up something I’ve always wondered about: there are a ton of songs about wonderful mothers. But there just aren’t that many positive ones about dear old dad. I’ve always been curious about why that is.
 
The only oldies I can think of that present a nice image of the pater familias are:
 
-My Dad by Paul Petersen
-Color Him Father by The Winstons and maybe
-Patches by Clarence Carter
 
Other than that, dads are often portrayed as either scoundrels or distant if they’re mentioned in song at all. Consider:
 
-Papa Was A Rolling Stone by The Temptations
-Cat’s In The Cradle by Harry Chapin
-Daddy Could Swear, I Declare by Gladys Knight & The Pips
-The Living Years by Mike & The Mechanics  

And then there are those where dad is leaving for some reason.
 
-You Better Sit Down Kids by Cher (in which he leaves as he gets ready to divorce mom)
-Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast, Wayne Newton (See above)
-Don’t Cry Daddy from Elvis Presley (And again)
-Father & Son by Cat Stevens (in which the kid can’t wait to get away from his old man.)
-Someday Never Comes by CCR (He leaves the kid behind at the start of the song)
-Son Of Hickory Holler's Tramp by O.C. Smith (Dad takes off with another woman)
 
Sad that fathers have been so neglected or denigrated in the music we grew up with. I only wish mine was still here. He definitely was one of the great ones. 

Last edited by aflem (June 21, 2020 11:05 am)

 

June 21, 2020 8:30 pm  #2


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

my guess is that it wouldn't sell with teens.

 

June 21, 2020 9:38 pm  #3


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

Mike Douglas "The Man in My Little Girl's Life"

 

June 23, 2020 7:01 pm  #4


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

I enjoy a Sunday morning Soul/Jazz show on our local roots station, and last Sunday they played a song called Oh My Papa by Eddie Fisher, which sounded like a pretty positive dad song. I'm not sure what the song has to do with jazz or soul, but maybe they loosened up their playlist because it was Father's Day.

 

June 24, 2020 2:25 pm  #5


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

David Gates' Everything I Own is sometimes misinterpreted as a broken relationship between a man and a woman.  If you research it, Gates, in an interview, said it was about his Dad - in a good way.
And there are few songs which express greater father-son love than Dan Fogelberg's Leader of the Band - super autobiographic reflection captured in that song's lyrics.  Eric Clapton's evocative reflection of his grief for his son following the tragedy of his son's death - one of his most powerful songs - Tears In Heaven.   Yes, it's sad but expressed his love for his son.  Wow!!!
 

Last edited by Little Rich (June 24, 2020 2:27 pm)

 

June 24, 2020 9:07 pm  #6


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

This one counts as a country crossover - Ned Miller - Do What You Do Do Well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MZ4a3LVndA&fbclid=IwAR34NKtTp_7jBJeDaqobaPXd0lPo7vg0PjD7mFlFaxxZMcMvoe-Xlc1NlFA

There are quite a few in country, I only mentioned this one because it was on the pop charts as well.
But here we go - Guy Clark - Randall Knife
Loretta Lynn - They Don't Make 'Em Like my Daddy Anymore
Holly Dunn - Daddy's Hans
There was a Johnny Cash one I've forgotten the name of, but it was something like Your Daddy is a Good Man, and Don't you kids forget it.
 

 

June 24, 2020 9:56 pm  #7


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

Interestingly, I had thought of a couple of other Cash songs ... although the one you mention (which unfortunately I don't know) would be a better example of what aflem is looking for, I'll mention the other two because I discovered there's an interesting coincidence of sorts. In 1969, Cash reached #42 pop with Daddy Sang Bass; it's about the entire family and Daddy is only specifically mentioned for his bass singing, but he does get lead billing and it's a positive song. But the irony is that after such a family-friendly and religious record, his next release was A Boy Named Sue (#2 pop). It is of course mostly critical of the father, but at the end they reconcile and Cash views him positively -- although still not entirely so for the name Sue. But the nature of the song couldn't be any more different from Daddy Sang Bass. It shows what a versatile artist Cash was ... and so the fact that he did a totally different type of song about a good father certainly doesn't surprise me. 

 

June 25, 2020 2:04 am  #8


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

while on the surface, it's a song about an elderly couple reconnecting. even through the haze of dementia, kathy mattea's song (written by her husband, about his parents), "where've you been?", is ultimately a testament to a father's love and lmpact, as witnessed by the son during a hospital visit, as his mother awakes from a coma-like state, sees her husband and, as her first words, asks the title queation.

Last edited by gopher (June 25, 2020 2:44 am)

 

June 25, 2020 3:45 am  #9


Re: Why Are There So Few Positive Hit Songs About Fathers?

That's My Job - Conway Twitty

 

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