Genesis - Mama Meaning

Song Released: 1983

Mama Lyrics

I can’t see you mama
But I can hardly wait
Ooh 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
Cos it’s getting so hard...

1. anonymous

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   Jan 29th 2024 !⃝

   I feel a lot of pain in this song. The world is a threatening place and there is no hope. The keyboard is like a monster creeping behind you, to bite you. Mama should help. But she is not there to protect the boy from the imaginary monsters. The boy grew up, but the missing sense of security is a hole in soul which could never be closed. So mother took away his last chance to become a man who can trust in a healty relationships. The demons are still behind him.
   
   Collins writes a lot about troublesome childhood experiences. I don't no whether fictional or personal experience. But think of "No son of mine" or "Both Sides of the Story" where the parants are fighting and <>
   Again a childhood which does not feel secure.
2. anonymous

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   Nov 5th 2023 !⃝

   Phil Collins said its based on a book by David Niven The Moon is a Balloon. Young man falls in love with a prostitute he calls her "Mama". It's unrequited love.
3. anonymous

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   Jun 30th 2023 !⃝

   I think the song is about a very hurt and Trouble Man who has nothing and just wants to see and feel his mother who is deceased and every time he gets to the point to killing himself he can feel her close but he knows that he will never see her again and it will hurt her even more
4. anonymous

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   Jun 30th 2023 !⃝

   I've been seen everybody thinks the song is about prostitutes or a hateful mother but when I listen to the song I don't get none of that I do believe it's about a mother but not because the mother neglect him I think the mother is dead and he's a very hurt and trouble man and just wants his to be with his mother the only person that loved him and he's trying his best not to commit suicide because he knows it won't bring her but he feels every time he gets close to that point he feels her but he knows if he kills himself it will hurt her the song is very comforting to me I lost my mother and the lyrics sums up how I feel everyday that I live without her is very unbearable
5. anonymous

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   Feb 2nd 2023 !⃝

   Who is 'Mama'? Well I think 'Mama' is God and I'll explain why with my own interpretation of the song. The main character is struggling to face their demons & hold onto their faith as they call to 'Mama' [God] for help. But the more they continue to sin and betray Mama's teachings, the further Mama ceases to exist. In the end, Mama vanishes as the main character succumbs to their demons & never learns their lesson.
   
   *The maniacal laughter heard throughout the song are the demons that surround the main character and influence them to sin and stray further from Mama.
6. anonymous

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   Dec 30th 2020 !⃝

   It's about abortion. Gloomy and beautiful moralistic song, although the Oedipus complex is always lurking when a man says mama...lol
7. anonymous

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   Dec 26th 2019 !⃝

   It's about tapping your feet and not giving a fuck about the words.
8. anonymous

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   Aug 22nd 2019 !⃝

   For the person that said Phil wasn't perverted. Shut up and watch the no ticket required video (specifically the part before he sings "thru these walls"...another brilliant song). You're also probably in the group of people that thinks Phil Collins stood there and watched some guy watch another guy drown, then invited him to the concert and sang "in the air tonight" to him.
9. anonymous

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   Jun 23rd 2019 !⃝

   This is definitely a song about a person whose mother has neglected and ignored him and his needs growing up and into adulthood... why else would you be singing about your mama in any other Context it would be perverted Phil Collins is not perverted in anyway and was way ahead of his time... way way ahead of his time some people wouldn't even get what he singing about now... look up personality disorders and what creates these people that have been abused by The Very people that are supposed to care and love them.. and people have said that Phil Collins songs have no meaning.. thank you Mr Collins for your superb contribution.
10. anonymous

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    Oct 7th 2018 !⃝

    The deep deep need for love, and only getting pleasure. Nothing filling in the hole in his heart. Needing the human touch badly, but overall consuming the worldly things around him.almost getting getting it, but never reaches it.
11. KaJo

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    Jan 30th 2018 !⃝

    I see a lot of opinions that are very viable, but the anonymous poster in 2004 correctly cited Phil Collins' interview and the meaning behind the song. That being said I loved this song the first time I ever heard it, when this album was released 2 years before I graduated high school in 1983 (yeah I am OLD lol) and I still love it to this very day, it was just so kick-@ss how could anyone not love it??
12. anonymous

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    Jun 28th 2017 !⃝

    Drug addiction.
13. anonymous

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    Jan 19th 2016 !⃝

    Phil has said many times it's about a man who falls in love with a Prostitute who won't return his affections (google it).
14. anonymous

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    Jun 1st 2012 !⃝

    Haha, obviously I misundersdood this song completely.
    I always thought its about an spoiled boy (about 20) who is scared of the true life ("Its so hot") and wants his mother to help him.
15. anonymous

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    Jan 20th 2012 !⃝

    As I recall hearing in an interview nearly 30 years ago now at the beginning of the 1983 tour, Phil Collins mentioned that it was about a man who as a young boy was abused, neglected, and abandoned by his mother. This destroyed his ability to have a meaningful relationship with women, and in fact creates an obsessive-compulsive drive to at once seek refuge in the arms of prostitutes, while also feeling tremendous rage towards all women and wanting to strike out violently at the women for whose services he is paying.