That song title above: That's a quote from something, right? A movie, maybe? A Simpsons episode? I could swear that I've heard those words delivered as a punchline before, with the emphasis on back. I don't know. Maybe not. Google is turning nothing up. In any case, "Mom, I'm Going Back To Therapy"! Good title!
Sunflower Bean leader Julia Cumming released her solo debut Julia last year, and she helped out on Wolf Alice's Roches cover a few months ago. Today, she shares the effervescent country-folk song "Mom, I'm Going Back To Therapy," which she says was inspired by Dolly Parton:
I wrote these lyrics after being really inspired by a book of Dolly Parton lyrics. I love how honest and approachable her lyrical style was, and how in classic country songs sadness and tongue-in-cheekness can exist together and make everything cut deeper.
A big part of this song is realizing that you can be afraid of getting over your own sadness because you don’t know who you’ll be once you give it up. I used to be afraid that if I healed, there would be an emptiness left that was worse than the pain, because at least the pain was mine.
Because this song was so influenced by classic country music, there was also something funny to me about treating "going back to therapy" like this huge, dramatic choice, almost like taking a job in a coal mine. This song was my way of accepting some ugly truths and getting some power back from them by not taking it all so seriously.
Check it out below.
Julia and "Mom, I'm Going Back To Therapy" are out now on Partisan.
