"Look Mama" was also released as a single in the UK, reaching #10, but it was somehow not deemed suitable for radio promotion by the suits in the US. I can only speculate that this is because it is about something as mundane as a mother and her son, not about brooding romance, angry protest, or cosmic musings. Given the basic innocence and sincerity of his music, it's a wonder Jones ever found any label support in America at all. . .
Here is yet another example of a song that changes with the years, by which I really mean that it is the same old song, though I have slowly but surely changed my own thinking about its meaning.
I dare you to find me a teenager who doesn't feel like his parents are stifling him. This is only natural, and the young soul is quite right to seek greater self-discovery and self-expression. Jones apparently didn't write this about his own mother, and was instead moved by the many letters he received from his young fans.
As the years have passed, I still see the importance of letting people find their own way, yet I am also acutely aware or how foolish and reckless youth can be, so the demands sound a little bittersweet to me. I suppose, however, that if children never made their many horrific blunders, they would never manage to become adults.
The errors are in themselves a necessary part of the growth, and they must serve as painful opportunities for a richer awareness. Mum and Dad must trust that they have given their best, and let the little bird fly on his own.
It's ultimately a variation of Stoic Wisdom #37: a man can only make, or break, himself.
—5/2007
A few words of commentary from Howard Jones:
And the song itself:
Howard Jones, "Look Mama" from Dream into Action (1985)
No I don't think she's mature I think she's nice
Hey mom when are we going?
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Don't wrap me up in cotton wool
You can't treat me like a fool
Anyway if I was, you gotta let me be one
OK give me your advice
It's not my fault if I can't be wise
Show me a person who hasn't been done
You can't treat me like a fool
Anyway if I was, you gotta let me be one
OK give me your advice
It's not my fault if I can't be wise
Show me a person who hasn't been done
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Don't try to stick your rules on me
I wasn't born as a carbon copy
I came out of you
But don't think that you own me
I have my respect for you
I won't try to change the things you do
Give me a break
Let me learn it my way
I wasn't born as a carbon copy
I came out of you
But don't think that you own me
I have my respect for you
I won't try to change the things you do
Give me a break
Let me learn it my way
You think you know more than me
Experience hasn't set you free
Look mama I Love you
Look mama, look, look mama, look
Look mama I Love you
Loom mama, look, look mama, look
Look mama, look, look mama, look
Look mama I Love you
Loom mama, look, look mama, look
I gotta make my own mistakes
Why can't you treat me like a friend?
Why can't you treat me like a friend?
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
But you gotta let me live my life
Look mama I Love you
Look mama, look, look mama, look
Look mama, look
Look mama, look, look mama, look
Look mama, look
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