I know I never liked the feeling when I’m lying there alone at night lying
awake and wondering am I right am I wrong
All along a conversation going on in my head
I never got a straight answer from me
But when I think about it now it seems amazing cause a couple of lovely
ladies
My mama and my baby got me standing tall
It’s not a problem at all
Whatever I see there – they both always be there for me
I don’t know where I’d be without these ladies in my life
They keep me grounded I feel dumbfounded when I think about the love and the
blessings they surround me with
I don’t know where I’d be without these women in my life
(don’t need to say it again) but I’m gonna
my baby and my mama always standing in my corner for me
If I could take a trip in time I wouldn’t make it cause I finally got to the
place and now I love the situation I’m in
I never thought that I’d have been so lucky and happy
Know I’m soundin’ kinda sappy
Some people get to laughing and that’s all right
So well I’m sleeping at night
And it’s all day feels like that I wanna say
That I’m in love with a lady who’s in love with me
I got my mama on the phone whenever I need her to be there for me
I don’t know where I’d be without these ladies in my life
They keep me grounded I feel dumbfounded when I think about the love and the
blessings they surround me with
I don’t know where I’d be without these women in my life
(don’t need to say it again) but I’m gonna
my baby and my mama always standing in my corner for me
This is one of the first songs written for what would become The Kenilworth Project. The Kenilworth Project started with just Ben Gold on drums and me on guitar, we had a goal of starting a group that would be a little of everything, from ridiculously fast and heavy to slow and melodic. We were in a hurry to get things going, so we actually went into Gremlen Studios with four brand new songs within about 6 weeks of starting this new group, and Mama Baby was one of them. Ben played drums and I did everything else. The back up vocals and harmony came to me in the studio. Once I was able to hear the song with a bass as well as guitar I started to hear more layers that just needed to be there. At the same time Ben had booked our first show, and we needed to come up with a bass player quick, I was able to talk Patrick Cassin into giving it a shot even though his experience was with guitar. At the time Ben booked the show we didn’t have a name. When the manager of Uncle Snorky’s asked Ben for a name the first thing he thought of was the cold he was suffering from, and we were listed on the marquee as “All Hopped Up On Sudafed”. I sure wish we had taken a picture of that.
It was Ben that had the idea to write a song for our moms, and I expanded the concept to include our wives, because I really don’t know where I’d be without Ms. Wippit. I had folk/hip hop in mind and the more we worked on the song the more it seemed like a true hit. Shortly after playing that show we brought Patrick into the studio and he put his own bass lines down on these four songs, and he did a stellar job. I hadn’t been happy with the original guitar solo, and rather than waste more studio time I recorded a few at home and brought in the one I wanted to use. I swear we ended up with the wrong one, but I’ve heard it so many times it sounds like the right one. While I was working on the solo at home it occurred to me that an acoustic guitar strumming a rhythm would really give it the folk/hip hop sound I was looking for, and I recorded that at home too.
I don’t remember how long it was before we decided a “guest rapper” would really make this one a hit, but I know it was long enough that some people didn’t like it that way. Well we thought it was good. I added an extra four bars after the solo to give our friend Bobby the Dread a full eight bars to work with (copy and paste) and he worked on it in his own basement studio. If I dig around in enough old hard drives I can probably find an old version without Bobby, but me I prefer this version. And below you can see The Kenilworth Project (calling ourselves Cortechs at this point) playing the song on Mother’s day ’94 at the Double Door in Chicago with Jake freestyling the flow in the middle.
