Single Review: ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ – Miranda Lambert
11 years ago Liv Carter 4
Songwriters: Shane McAnally, Brandy Clark, Kacey Musgraves
On her new single, ‘Mama’s Broken Heart,’ Miranda Lambert is once again holding the matches as a relationship goes up in flames. This time, the song explores something new, the generational difference in how one is expected to act when things fall apart.
In contrast to her mama’s ‘softer generation’ where you expected to ‘get a grip and bite your lip just to save a little face,’ Lambert goes off the post-break-up deep end. Knowing this won’t be tolerated by her mother, she anticipates in the first verse: ‘Word got around to the barflies and the baptists / My mama’s phone started ringin’ off the hook / I can hear her now sayin’ she ain’t gonna have it,’ before concluding with the attitude of a generation where women were expected to conform to certain behavior, ‘Don’t matter how you feel, it only matters how you look.’ The chorus houses a scalding women still have to endure:
Go and fix your make up, girl it’s just a break up
Run and hide your crazy and start actin’ like a lady
‘Cause I raised you better, gotta keep it together
Even when you fall apart
But this ain’t my mama’s broken heart
The songwriters Shane McAnally, Brandy Clark and Kacey Musgraves show not only a great understanding of, but the ability to translate into verse, the pressure on women to be nice and polite at all times, and the shaming of those who aren’t. Clark and Musgraves are no doubt speaking from experience, the very same thing Lambert will have drawn on to breath fire into these lyrics.
A very interesting aspect of this song is it’s almost alt-country production in the verses. That’s alt-country compared to today’s country radio standards, but what used to be just called ‘country music.’ Unfortunately, this is abandoned in the choruses which are, yet again, far too loud and far too crowded. The combination of the great lyrics and Lambert’s excellent interpretation would have been enough to make the choruses stand out. I wish more producers would trust their performers, and listeners, enough to not feel the need to clutter choruses with heavy guitars.
Approaching a topic from a new angle is the mark of expert songwriters, and this trio has managed this impressively, and then saw their song land with the perfect artist for this cut. ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ is a ‘win’ in every way you look at it.
‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ goes for adds on January 14, 2013.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Mq0Vvsxk8?rel=0]
Liv Carter
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
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