Lyrics

There was a time, I was happy in my life

There was a time, I believed I'd live forever

There was a time, that I prayed to Jesus Christ

There was a time, I had a mother

It was nice

Nobody else would ever take the place of you

Nobody else could do the things that you could do

No one else I guess could hurt me like you did

I didn't understand, I was just a kid

Oh mother, why aren't you here with me

No one else saw the things that you could see

I'm trying hard to dry my tears

Yes father, you know I'm not so free

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

There was a time, I was happy in my life

There was a time, I believed I'd live forever

There was a time, that I prayed to Jesus Christ

There was a time, I had a mother

It was nice

Oh mother, why aren't you here with me

No one else saw the things that you could see

I'm trying hard to dry my tears

Yes father, you know I'm not so free

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

My mother died when I was five

And all I did was sit and cry

I cried and cried and cried all day

Until the neighbors went away

They couldn't take my loneliness (I gotta give it up)

I couldn't take their phoniness (I gotta give it up)

My father had to go to work (I gotta give it up)

I used to think he was a jerk (I gotta give it up)

I didn't know his heart was broken

Not another word was spoken

He became a shadow of

The father I was dreaming of

I made a vow that I would never need

Another person ever

Turned my heart into a cage

A victim of a kind of rage

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

I got to give it up

Find someone to love me

I got to let it go

Find someone that I can care for

Find someone that I can care for

Find someone that I can care for

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta let it go

I gotta give it up

Oh mother, oh father

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

I gotta give it up

Credits

Written by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï

Produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï

Programming and guitars by Mirwais Ahmadzaï

Album

.American Life

Song

On April 14th 2003, this beautiful song premiered online on the website of MSN. Like she did before in Promise To Try, Inside Of Me and Mer Girl, Madonna sings about her mothers death. But though the lyrics are sad and emotional, it's an uptempo dance song. Madonna's voice is high pitched as if it's a little girl singing about her mum and dad.

Madonna comments on this song: "It's a way to free me from the pain for my mother's death, but i'm not asking for a medal for finding my way in life or for compassing for suffering so much. It isn't an excuse like 'I'm like this because i've suffered so much when I was a child.' These excuses are rubbish, because you have to be responsible of all the things you do in your whole life."

The song was remixed by Johnny Rocks and Peter Rauhofer but didn't get a commercial single release. However the Rauhofer mix went up to #9 on the Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play chart in June 2005, making it the 7th top 10 hit from the American Life album on that chart.

Tour

While the lyrics are clearly about her mother, Madonna performed this song on the Re-Invention Tour as a homage to both her mother and Jesus. Jesus appears on the big side screens, while the center screen shows a big red pounding heart. Madonna herself sits in the middle of the stage, playing the acoustic guitar. Right before she starts the rap, the beat kicks in, making the crowd go wild. A picture of her mother flashes on the screens while she finishes her rap. Then there's a bridge to the first verse of Intervention, followed by again the Mother And Father chorus.