Mama, a Rainbow

Mama, a Rainbow
lyrics by Hal Hackaday
music by Larry Grossman

Today’s song, Mama, a Rainbow, hails from a little known musical named Minnie’s Boys. Loosely based on the early lives of the Marx Brothers, Minnie’s Boys opened at the Imperial Theatre in New York in 1970, on March 26. It ran for 80 performances. If for no other reason than today’s song, I would wish it was still packin’ ‘em in. Minnie (played by Shelley Winters) is the matriarch of the Marx family. Harpo (neé Adolph Marx), you may remember, was a man of few words on screen. However, he saved them all up for this beautiful tribute to his mother:

What do you give to the lady
Who has given all her life
And love to you?
What do you give
To the reason you`re livin`?
I could windowshop the world
Before I`m through.

Mama, a rainbow,
Mama, a sunrise,
Mama, the moon to wear.
That`s not good enough,
No, not good enough.
Not for mama.

Mama, a palace.
Diamonds like doorknobs.
Mountains of gold to spare.
That`s not rich enough,
Not half rich enough,
Not for mama.
Mama, a lifetime,
Crowded with laughter,
That`s not long enough,
Not half long enough.

What can I give you
That I can give you?
What will your present be?
Mama young and beautiful.
Always young and beautiful.
That`s the mama I`ll always see,
That`s for mama with love from me.

Lent does not extend to Mother’s Day, so I’m including this song as a reflection and tribute for all our mothers, especially mine. I remember that powerful scene in The Passion of the Christ where Jesus falls on his way to Golgotha. His mother, Mary rushes to his side and there is a flashback to days when Jesus was a child. They are beautiful heart-wrenching scenes. And then, we come back to the present and we hear Jesus, through a blood-streaked face, tell his mother, “See: I make all things new.”

If I could, mother, I would make all things new for you. But thank you for your deep faith, for your unconditional love, for your holding the larger family together, and for your constant, intuitive prayers (and if you are a friend reading this blog, the chances are very high that those prayers at one time have been, and maybe even now are, for you).

Mama young and beautiful.
Always young and beautiful.
That`s the mama I`ll always see,
That`s for mama with love from me.