Howard Jones, Dream into Action 5

The UK and US versions of the album diverge quite significantly from this point on, and though I now follow the UK sequencing, I remain so attached to my old US vinyl copy that I will still automatically hear the next song in my head as soon as the previous one is coming to a close. That is how powerful old habits can be! 

"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: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg71OkN0dKw&list=OLAK5uy_ksRpFrEL_onEROgkryRFr4rhIUu3vYyZc&index=9

And the song itself: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7kBThjwQ1c&list=OLAK5uy_ksRpFrEL_onEROgkryRFr4rhIUu3vYyZc&index=10 

Howard Jones, "Look Mama" from Dream into Action (1985) 

Honey, I think Audrey's a little mature for you
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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

I gotta make my own mistakes 
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 

Look mama I Love you 
Look mama, look, look mama, look 
Look mama, look