Schoolhouse Rock!

"Mother Necessity"

Original Air Date

July 10, 1976

This song teaches about the great American inventions, all depicted as being created as a result of a need for the inventors' mothers. This song was voted #20 on the 30th Anniversary DVD Top 25.

Lyrics to "Mother Necessity"

Mother Necessity

With her good intentions

Where would this country be

Without her inventions?

Oh, things were rotten in the land of cotton

Until Whitney made the cotton gin

Now old times there will soon be forgotten

For it did the work of a hundred men

Mother Necessity, where would we be?

Mother Edison worked late each night

It went well until the fading light

Little Thomas Alva Edison said, "I'll grow up to be

A great inventor and I'll make a lamp to help my mommy see,

Wowee! What an excellent application of electricity!"

He worked hard and pulled the switch

He was smart and very rich

Mother Necessity, help us to see

Now, the mother of Samuel Morse

Always sent the lad out on a horse

"Take a message to Ms. Peavy on the far side of the pike

Spread the word about the quilting bee next Saturday night!"

Little Samuel started thinking of a way to send a message

Though he never met a horse he didn't like, uh!

Mother Necessity!

Elias, can you help me with my sewing?

Mother dear, I'll fulfill your fondest wishes

Elias, how?

This machine I've made will keep your sewing really flowing

In fact, we'll keep the whole nation in stitches, ah!

Mother Necessity, where would we be?

Ring me on the Alexander Graham Bell

Thank you Alexander for the phone

I'd never get a date, I'd never get a job

Unless I had a telephone

Mother Necessity!

"Orville, Wilbur, go outside this minute

And there continue with your silly playing!

Take these plans and take those blueprints

Take that funny looking thing

Take that wheel, take that wing

I can't hear a thing that Mrs. Johnson's saying

Orville! Wilbur! Come back, boys! Orville! Wilbur!"

Mother Necessity, where would we be?

When Robert Fulton made the steamboat go

When Marconi gave us wireless radio

When Henry Ford cranked up his first automo

When Samuel Slater showed us how factories go

And all the iron and oil and coal and steel and Yankee don't you know

They made this country really grow, grow, grow, grow

With Mother Necessity and where would we be

Without the inventions of your progeny?