The 20 Best Mother's Day Songs (2023)

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The Shirelles - Mama Said

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Soul girl group The Shirelles made this grateful doo-wop bop, all about realizing mama knows best when it comes to heartbreak and love.

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Cam'ron was certainly not singing about his mom—"You smoke? / I smoke / I drink / Me too"—but it's never a bad idea to spin this groovy early aughts beat.

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"I'm sorry momma / I never meant to hurt you." Never thought I'd relate to Eminem, but there's a first time for everything. Here's a rather earnest apology to Mama-nem, set to an infectiously smooth rat-a-tat rhythm.

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Only these guys could spin such a tender-hearted ballad for their moms. If you really want to go all out, learn the piano part and give her a good old serenade.

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"I finally understand / For a woman it ain't easy trying to raise a man." 2pac's mom sounds like the absolute best, tbh.

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What's great about this song is how it portrays Mama just doing exactly what she pleases: Playing her squeeze box all the damn time.

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Iron and Wine's Sam Beam evokes so many pretty images in this folky guitar ballad, but its sweetness has a bitter edge, acknowledging the way children can hurt their parents in a way nobody else can.

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Drake only loves his bed and his momma. Same!

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Even though country star Brandi Carlile captured her own stirring experience of being "the mother of Evangeline" here, the song's modesty, awe, and wisdom turned it into a more widely beloved and relatable tribute.

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A bombastic reminder about where you likely got your best attributes. (Yr mama.)

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The King of the Blues knows what it's all about. Honestly, sometimes it really does feel that way.

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Just five gals sitting around on stools and singing about their moms. Thank you, 1996.

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On second thoughts, maybe you shouldn't play your mother a song that includes the line "She was born a long, long time ago." Anyway, what's certain is your mother does know. Everything.

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Not to be too tit for tat, but it's not not true: When you're good to mama, mama's good to you.

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You can tell your mom this song by Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves was inspired by a text message from her own mother. But maybe she won't want to know that Musgraves was also inspired by an acid trip.

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From the moment Bey revealed she was pregnant at the 2011 VMAs, Blue Ivy Carter has been a fixture in her mom's creative life as well as her family. One of the most moving moments on Beyoncé's self-titled album is this ballad about her first child. It even features a cameo from Blue herself.

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Coming out to your family can be hard, and this high-energy number recommends one way to do it: Take your mama to the club. Go on!

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Lorelai and Rory Gilmore are one of TV's great mom–daughter pairs, and they got the perfect theme in Carole King's 1971 classic "Where You Lead." In this version, King even replaces "New York City" with the Gilmores' home town of Stars Hollow.

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"The definition of mommy is not 'a chick with kids' / Mommy means the boss, the money maker, the man taker, the provider.... So if you a fly mommy, please stand upppppppp!" Can't argue with Missy.

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Not everyone has an easy relationship with their mother, and others have mothers to mourn. In "Carrie and Lowell," Sufjan Stevens grapples with the mother who left his family when he was just one, then returned sporadically, and passed away in 2012.