About The Song
“Mama” is a song by the English rock band Genesis, released as the first single in 1983 from their self-titled album. It is recognisable for its harsh drum machine introduction composed by Mike Rutherford, which leads into minimalist synthesizer lines in a minor tonality and finally Phil Collins’ reverb-laden voice. It remains the band’s most successful single in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the UK singles chart.[3] It also made the top 10 in Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Ireland and the Netherlands. It was less popular in the US, only reaching No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. A 1992 re-release of the single managed to reach the Top 40 in Germany.
The song’s theme involves a young man’s longing for a particular prostitute. On the DVD The Genesis Songbook, the band and producer Hugh Padgham revealed that the inspiration for Collins’ menacing laugh came from rap music pioneer Grandmaster Flash’s song “The Message”.
From the 1983 Genesis Three into One Wavelength 3-LP vinyl radio show interview:
Our manager, when he first heard it, thought it was about abortion, the kind of feeling of the, you know, the fetus, if you like, saying to the Mother ‘Please give me a chance, can’t you feel my heart, don’t take away my last chance’, all those lyrics are in the song but in fact what it is, is just about a young teenager that’s got a mother fixation with a prostitute that he’s just happened to have met in passing and he has such a strong feeling for her and doesn’t understand why she isn’t interested in him. It’s a bit like [British actor] David Niven in The Moon’s a Balloon, I don’t know if you’ve read that book, he’s very young, just come out of cadet college or whatever, and he meets this quite, you know, 45-year-old prostitute who he has a fantastic time with. He’s special to her but it definitely can’t go any further than what it is and that’s really what the song is about, with sinister overtones.
Video
Lyrics
I can’t see you, mama
But I can hardly wait
Oh, to touch and to feel you, mama
Oh, I just can’t keep away
In the heat and the steam of the city
Oh, it’s got me running and I just can’t brake
So say you’ll help me, mama
‘Cause it’s getting so hard, oh-ooh
Now I can’t keep you, mama
But I know you’re always there
You listen, you teach me, mama
And I know inside you care
So get down, down here beside me
Oh, you ain’t going nowhere
No, I won’t hurt you, mama
But it’s getting so hard, oh-oh, ahahahah!
Can’t you see me here, mama?
Mama, mama, mama, please?
Can’t you feel my heart?
Can’t you feel my heart?
Can’t you feel my heart? Oh-woah
Now listen to me, mama
Mama, mama
You’re taking away my last chance!
Don’t take it away
Can’t you feel my heart? Ahahah, ahahah, oh
It’s hot, too hot for me, mama
But I can hardly wait
My eyes, they’re burning, mama
And I can feel my body shake
Ah, don’t stop, don’t stop me, mama
Oh, make the pain, make it go away
No, I won’t hurt you, mama
But it’s getting so hard, oh-ooh
Now I can’t see you, mama
But I know you’re always there
You taunt, you tease me, mama
But I never, never, never can keep away
It’s the heat and the steam of the city
Oh, mama, got me running and I just can’t brake
So stay, don’t leave me, mama
‘Cause it’s getting so hard, oh
Don’t go!
No, no, don’t go!
D-d-don’t go!
Don’t go!
No, no, no, don’t go!
Don’t leave me here, don’t go!
Don’t go!