These songs take on a different meaning when you learn who inspired them! Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the best songs that musicians wrote in tribute to their own children.
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00:00Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?
00:07Welcome to Nae's Mojo, and today we're looking at the best songs
00:12that musicians wrote in tribute to their own children.
00:15The sweetest emotions.
00:20Number 10, Little Green, Joni Mitchell
00:24Just a little green, like the colour when the spring is born.
00:33One of the standouts on Joni Mitchell's self-reflexive masterpiece, Blue,
00:37is a gentle ballad about a newborn.
00:40The contemplation on the baby's future cryptically implies that she's being given away.
00:45A little green, have a happy ending.
00:51The always haunting classic took on greater meaning in 1993,
00:56when a former roommate publicly revealed that Mitchell had a daughter
01:00when she was a struggling artist.
01:02She was forced to give up Kellydell Anderson for adoption in 1966.
01:07There was no way I could take her out of the hospital into a blizzard,
01:11with no job, no roof over my head, there was no way I could take her.
01:14This revelation led to Little Green being re-evaluated as one of Mitchell's
01:18most personal and courageous lyrics,
01:21and its devastating backstory also found a happy ending.
01:25In 1997, Killoryn Gibb tracked down her biological mother,
01:29and the two have kept in touch ever since.
01:32Number 9, Lullaby, Goodnight My Angel, Billy Joel
01:36Goodnight my angel, time to close your eyes.
01:42Billy Joel's first tribute to his daughter was the Downeaster Alexa,
01:46though the jaunty tune was really about the boat named after her.
01:49Well I'm on the Downeaster Alexa.
01:54With Lullaby, Goodnight My Angel, he shared true paternal tenderness.
01:58The song originated as a prelude to a suite,
02:01before Joel added lyrics about comforting a child asking difficult questions.
02:05His musings on legacy still get pretty deep to be for a 7-year-old.
02:10Someday we'll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on.
02:16All of this made for a deeply emotional piece
02:19that echoed the love ballads of Joel's youth.
02:22It thus feels reflective of a new phase in his maturity as a master lyricist.
02:27Alexa Rae Joel is now a singer-songwriter herself,
02:30whose musical legacy goes back to her father's universally soothing lullaby.
02:368. Glory and Blue, Jay-Z and Beyoncé
02:40Come on baby, won't you hold on to me, hold on to me
02:47Beyoncé and Jay-Z have long been one of pop's top power couples.
02:52In 2012, they became one of the top families.
02:55Just two days after the birth of Blue Ivy Carter,
02:58Jay-Z expressed his joy with the heartfelt hip-hop anthem Glory.
03:02False alarms and false starts
03:04All made better by the sound of your heart
03:07His newborn daughter is credited as a featured artist,
03:10whose voice is heard on the track.
03:12This soon earned her a Guinness World Record
03:14as the youngest person ever to appear on the Billboard charts.
03:23The following year, she was sampled on the track Blue
03:26on Beyoncé's self-titled album.
03:29Hold on to me, Blue
03:32Hold on to me, hold on
03:35The moving love song compliments Jay-Z's
03:38to humble the pop culture titans as proud parents.
03:41And it was only the beginning of Blue's glorious music career.
03:457. Kooks, David Bowie
03:48Will you stay in our lover's story?
03:51If you stay, you won't be sorry
03:55If the album Hungry Dory was mostly David Bowie
03:58dealing with his neurosis, one track finds beauty in it.
04:02Kooks is named for an eccentric couple
04:04asking their child to stay in their love story.
04:07The folk-pop style was influenced by Neil Young,
04:10but Bowie is directly speaking to his
04:12and Angie Barnett's son, Duncan Jones.
04:15So take a chance with a couple of kooks
04:19Hung up on romancing
04:22Bowie premiered Kooks at a BBC session
04:25just four days after becoming a father.
04:27The song certainly won over fans as a playful,
04:30vulnerable celebration of outsiders
04:33and the agency of their offspring.
04:35Cause if you stay with us, you're gonna be pretty kooky too
04:39Its legacy was further boosted by Jones
04:41growing up to be a talented sci-fi filmmaker.
04:44He clearly got his cosmic artistry
04:47from his self-described kooky dad.
04:506. All My Love, Led Zeppelin
04:57Led Zeppelin's 1977 tour was cut short by unthinkable news.
05:02Singer Robert Plant had lost his five-year-old son,
05:05Carrick, to illness.
05:06He and John Paul Jones would later articulate this grief
05:09with All My Love.
05:17The synthesizer-driven power ballad
05:19was one of the few Zeppelin songs
05:21not written by the hard blues rock-orientated Jimmy Page.
05:24Some say this stylistic shift,
05:26as well as creative and personal conflicts behind the track,
05:29symbolised the beginning of the end for the band.
05:32But All My Love stands out on its own
05:34for the dynamic composition and poetic lyrics.
05:43Plant's expression of profound love and longing
05:45delivered one of Zeppelin's most beloved masterpieces
05:48to say nothing of a timeless tribute to Carrick Pendragon Plant.
05:535. Sweetest Devotion, Adele
06:01Adele's album 25 is a challenging reflection
06:04on aging that naturally ends on a hopeful note.
06:07At least there's one man in her life
06:09she has nothing but good things to sing about.
06:12Sweetest Devotion is a powerhouse anthem
06:15about Adele's overwhelming love for her son.
06:17Faint sounds of three-year-old Angelo's voice
06:20actually echo during the bookends of the song.
06:28In between is a cool crescendo into choruses
06:31that, as the lyric says, hit you like an explosion.
06:34Unfortunately, Sweetest Devotion wound up being
06:37one of the lesser-known tracks
06:39on the commercially and critically successful 25.
06:42At least it's a favourite among fans,
06:44a refreshingly uplifting testament
06:46to both Adele's emotive talents and the power of motherhood.
06:574. Forever Young, Bob Dylan
07:04Known as the voice of his generation,
07:07Bob Dylan highlighted his 70s catalogue
07:10with a prayer for the next generation.
07:12Forever Young originated as a lullaby
07:14for his son and Sarah Lowndes' four children.
07:17Leave it to the leader of modern folk
07:19to find a masterpiece in a wholesome ditty
07:22about growing up to be hopeful and decent to others.
07:33Forever Young would resonate through the ages
07:35as a classic song and a popular, empowering phrase.
07:38Rod Stewart's 1988 hit of the same name
07:41particularly stands above its tribute
07:43to both Dylan and Stewart's own kids.
07:52But no matter how many covers or homages reflect the fact,
07:56Dylan's tribute to his family
07:58will forever endure in parents everywhere.
08:01May you stay
08:07Forever Young
08:103. Isn't She Lovely, Stevie Wonder
08:13The second half of Songs in the Key of Life
08:16opens with the sound of life itself.
08:18Isn't she precious
08:22Less than one minute old
08:26Stevie Wonder wrote the swooning, sweeping love ballad
08:29Isn't She Lovely to honour the birth of Aisha Morris.
08:32Okay, she wasn't the newborn
08:34whose actual first cries were recorded for the song's intro,
08:38but samples of Wonder with his toddler daughter
08:40perfectly complement the serene interludes.
08:50Wonder insisted that such moments remain on the ready-made hit,
08:54making it too long to release as a single.
08:57That didn't stop Isn't She Lovely
08:59from becoming a huge staple of popular music.
09:08It's a musically and emotionally infectious classic,
09:11but no one can fully understand
09:13the joy it represents in Wonder and for Aisha.
09:172. Beautiful Boy, Darling Boy, Beautiful Boys
09:21John Lennon, Yoko Ono
09:23You're a beautiful boy
09:26With all your little toys
09:29John Lennon and Yoko Ono separately lead the album Double Fantasy,
09:34but unite on the theme of their son, Sean.
09:36Lennon's Beautiful Boy, Darling Boy is the better-known track,
09:40a whimsical tune to reassure a distressed child.
09:43The monster's gone
09:45He's on the run
09:47And your daddy's here
09:49Ono echoes this theme more ethereally
09:52just as hauntingly with Beautiful Boys.
09:54The love letter is also extended to her husband.
09:57All you beautiful boys
10:00Creating multiple plays
10:03Sadly, the lovely sentiments hold even more weight
10:06for the album being released less than a month before John's death.
10:10Sean persevered through this tragedy
10:12to become a renowned musician himself,
10:14but admits to now feeling infantilized by Beautiful Boy.
10:19For fans, though, his parents' tributes
10:21remain the purest expression of paternal love
10:25and the artist's legacy.
10:27Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
10:30Beautiful boy
10:33Before we unveil our top pick,
10:35here are a few honourable mentions.
10:37Sail to the Moon, Radiohead
10:40Tom Yorke delivers a bittersweet serenade
10:42on his hopes for Noah's future.
10:44You're better than I
10:50What I Never Knew I Always Wanted, Carrie Underwood
10:53Carrie Underwood declares her joy
10:55with her husband and their son, Isaiah.
10:58Life has a way
11:01Of showing you just what you need
11:06Superstar Madonna
11:07The Queen of Pop celebrates her own idol,
11:10actually featuring Lourdes on the track.
11:13Ooh la la, you're my superstar
11:17Ooh la la, love the way that you are
11:20Hailey's song Eminem
11:22The edgy rapper finds happiness
11:24in raising and protecting his daughter.
11:27My baby girl
11:29Keeps getting older
11:32Just the Two of Us, Will Smith
11:34The Fresh Prince scored a hit
11:36about siring and bonding with Jaden.
11:39And I beg the Lord, please
11:42Let me be your good daddy all he needs
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12:00Number 1. Tears in Heaven, Eric Clapton
12:04There'll be no more
12:08Tears in Heaven
12:11The 1991 film Rush
12:13was Eric Clapton's first project
12:15after the accidental death
12:17of four-year-old son, Connor.
12:19The centrepiece of the soundtrack
12:20is framed by the movie
12:22as a melancholy love ballad.
12:24In fact, Tears in Heaven
12:25describes Clapton's vision
12:27of reuniting with his son in the afterlife.
12:35Rush was a commercial disappointment,
12:38but its theme song won three Grammys
12:40and became one of Clapton's biggest hits.
12:42It's certainly one of his most beautiful.
12:45It also led to other cathartic tributes to Connor.
12:53In 2004, Clapton formally retired
12:56these songs from live performances
12:58to resolve his mourning.
13:00But Tears in Heaven leaves a lasting legacy
13:03as an especially heartbreaking
13:05yet profoundly poignant love letter
13:07from an artist to a child.
13:10What are your most beloved songs
13:12that artists wrote for loved ones?
13:14Give your tributes in the comments.
13:40.