Tim McGraw Sings Of Finding Comfort In Mom’s Voice In “I Called Mama”

Tim McGraw Shares The Special Meaning Behind His Song “I Called Mama”

On May 8, 2020, Tim McGraw released a new song. Titled “I Called Mama,” the song is one that Tim felt an instant connection to.

“I Called Mama” was written by Lance Miller, Marv Green, and Jimmy Yeary. Although Tim had no hand in writing the tune, it struck a chord with him because it reminded him of his own mom, Betty.

“I fell in love with it right away, certainly because of what it says on a personal level about, you know, everybody loves their mama, so to talk really specifically about calling your mom and everything that is said in it made a lot of sense to me,” Tim told The Boot.

Tim recorded the song before the pandemic. But when everything changed, Tim felt “I Called Mama” took on an even more powerful and relevant meaning.

“…to have a personal song that’s something that big when you look at it from a different perspective when the world changed, it was hard to ignore,” Tim said.

Tim also said that “I Called Mama” reminds people how important it is to connect with the ones they love.

“…hopefully, the silver lining in all this is we learn how to connect with each other a little bit differently, a little better, and maybe that’ll extend to a more personal connection with everybody,” he said.

In the song, Tim sings of hearing some news that an old friend of his has passed away. He goes to the gas station to buy a Slim Jim and a Coke, sits by the river, and writes a song.

Then, he feels the urge to call his mama and finds comfort in the sound of her voice. “I just called to tell you that I loved you. I was missin’ you, and dad, and home, that’s all,” he sings at one point in the song.

Faith Hill Had An Emotional Reaction To The Song

While the whole song made an impression on Tim, the chorus struck a particularly emotional chord. He recalls singing it for his wife, Faith Hill, not long after he first heard the demo:

“So I sat down at the kitchen table and started singing it, and I couldn’t get through it,” he said. “I got to the chorus, and every time I tried to get to the chorus, I would fall apart on it. She would start crying because I was crying.”

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Tim says the song served as a source of “emotional comfort.” It’s funny he describes the song in that way, since as the narrator, he sings of finding comfort after calling his mom during a sad time in his life.

Get ready for the emotions you’ll experience when you listen to “I Called Mama” in the clip below. As Tim said, the song’s message is easy to understand, “but it just means so much.”