i love you, mama

you know so ofttimes people ask me

shirley

why is it that you sing about mothers so much?

but you know

my mama has been both mom and dad for me

maybe many of you don't know it

but my mother is a semiinvalid

today i'd like to just say thanks

mom

thanks for sharing and caring about me

the many nights that you laid awake while i was out on the road singing

and many nights

many mornings rather

you wouldn't even go to sleep

until you'd hear me put my key in the door

i wanna say thanks for the many mornings that you'd get up

and would fix us some lunch when so many kids didn't have anything to eat

and i remember

in my little ol' selfish way i would complain

because i had to take biscuit and a piece of meat between the bread to school

and the children would laugh at me and i'd come home crying

saying

mama

i don't take that to school anymore and my mama would say thanks

because i remember so vividly that morning you called in the kitchen

and you told me to look down in the bag

i said

mama

there's nothing down in the bag but meat and bread

and mama

i remember you took the meat and the bread out and you put it on the table

and i said

mama

there's nothing down in the bag

and you said

yes

it is

that's what you told me

she said

you'll take this meat and this bread and you'll go to school

and whenever the children laugh at you

you tell them that every morning when i get up

the first thing that i do is i put my love in that bag

thanks

mom

when daddy died

i remember

the relatives came

and they wanted to take us all from you

and i remember you saying with tears in your eyes

i know that nobody's gonna give me a job

and i know that my check that i get each month is not going to be enough to take care of my children

but some kind of way

god's gonna make a way

and i remember you used to sing this song all the time

courage my soul and let me journey on