Greetings,
Just in from the homeland: Fort Benton, Jah-tana:
“Only in Montana, snow on Mother’s Day”
Happy Mother’s Day! Be sure to wish your mom a glorious day or think of her memory today. I know my beloved mother Jeannette has been a great supporter of the Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives. (Even though she wonders why I keep doing Reggae Radio for free going on 25 years.)
“Yimma*, if they pay me, then they get to tell me what to do and what to play.” Bumba klaat to that notion!
*Mother in the Assyrian language
I usually get her flowers and always have them sign the card, “Love you more than Bob Marley”. This year I got her an RFID money clip to stash her credit cards in. She’s got more of those than I have Marley discs.
Facebook has caused a Civil War in my family and my Mom has been reeling from the fallout.
This is a perfect song to set the mood of the day:
A young boy hands his mother an itemized list of charges he says he’s owed for performing various chores and comes to collect; the singer performs this in spoken word. The mother responds (singing) by reminding her son about all the things she’s done for him, that she never asked him to pay for services rendered and that, all things considered, “the cost of real love is no charge.”
Enlightened, the young boy realizes that his mother is right and forgives the charges (once again, narrated) before the singer sings the moral. “No Charge” was one of the few songs that talked about motherhood during this time, which might be one of the reasons why it was so popular.
So of course I have a Reggae version. I had to take yesterday’s Smile Jamaica off because Beast Buy sold me a TV that had no picture and thought I would pay a $1000 for it.
Every Saturday prior to Mother’s Day, for probably two decades – certainly as long as the Cannabis Service Shows , I have played this tune by Sonya Spence as the lead off track to that day’s Smile Jamaica Ark-Ive show.
The year our family feud was running well hot, I had to choke back tears. And that never happens to me.
<Sonya Spence – No Charge; 3 min 22 sec>
Love you Yimma, my Sistah Stacey, any Mothers who check in with Smile Jamaica, Happy Mother’s Day!
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica 