And The Award Goes To....

Serious muso journalist/interviewer-type bod: So, I am here with Bad Mammy, fresh from celebrating her first Ivor Novello award. How does it feel to win such a prestigious accolade?

Bad Mammy: It feels wonderful, serious muso jouranlist/interviewer-type bod. When we create music, we want to be heard, so to know that this song has struck a chord with so many people is really humbling.

SMJB: Can you tell us about the creative process behind this most extraordinary work, "Mashed Potato Baby"?

BM: Well, it was really a very organic thing, born, as so many things are, out of a very everyday situation.

SMJB: The best art usually is

BM: I agree. Anyway, I was bathing my children one night, and feeling very at peace with the world, and feeling very, connected to these little people, you know? And I just looked at The Littl'un and thought "You are COVERED in mashed potato"

SMJB: Which, of course, became the first line of the song .

BM: Yes. And the second. And, indeed, the third. And the reaction that it received was just so visceral. It was really inspiring, and I knew that I just had to share this song with the world.

SMJB: And I think, even just that first part of it would have been an instant hit. But it's what happened next that made it such a revolutionary concept...

BM: And again, it was a very organic process, the collaboration. I really owe this award to my elder daughter, the song literally wouldn't have existed without her. The improvisational quality of the fourth line, where instead of "Mashed Potato Baby", we have "Mashed Potato Teddy", or "Mashed Potato Mammy", or "Mashed Potato Toothbrush", comes completely from her just interacting with her environment, and her completely instinctual response to the things she sees.

SMJB: And that's really what makes the song so special. Are we going to see great things from her in the future?

BM: Oh definitely. Her lyricism is really astonishing for one so young. She has a way of expressing herself in such a way that it really makes you think, and wonder what deeper message she's trying to convey. Right now, she's developing set of re-workings of "Row, row, row your boat", which includes the lyric "Rock, rock, rock your boat/ Gently down the stream/ If you see a mouse/ Tapping on the wall". She blows my mind.

SMJB: Like mother, like daughter, clearly. Well, I think we'll all be keeping an eye out for her in the future. Thank you, Bad Mammy, and congratulations on getting the recognition you deserve for your musical efforts.

BM: It's been my pleasure, Serious Muso Journalist/Interviewer-type bod.