Who are Parents? Lyrics to Who Are Parents? by The Shaggs


Some kids do as they please life really means


They don't know what They don't listen to what the ones who rea have to say


They just go and do things their own way


Who are parents? Parents are the ones who really care Who are parents? Parents are the ones who are always there


Some kids think their parents are cruel Just because they want them to obey certain rules art to lean from the ones who really care g, turning from the ones who will always be


They st Turnin there


Who are parents? Parents are the ones who really care Who are parents? Parents are the ones who are always there


Parents do understand, parents do care We must remember Parents are the ones who will always understand Parents are the ones who really care


(repeat chorus)


P c


lly care


“The rumor around town was that Austin forced his daughters to be in the band…The girls worried about embarrassing themselves, but at the same time they liked the fact that the shows allowed them to escape the house and t heir bounded world, even if it was just for a night. […]


‘We missed out on a lot,’ Betty said. ‘I can't say we didn't have fun, but we missed a social life, we missed out on having friends, we missed everything except our music and our exercises. I just didn't think we were good enough to be playing concerts and making records. At one point, thought maybe we would make it, but it asn't


I w really my fantasy.’”


— Susan Orlean, ‘Meet the Shaggs’ The New Yorker, 1997.


Discussion Topic


arent‐child relationships are omplex, and adolescence is often a time when those relationships


Foot Foot, dr n by Dorothy Wiggin (Foot Foot wa the Wiggin family pet cat and the inspiration for the song My Pal Foot Foot.)


aw s


are tested. The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World highlights a family relationship that is very fraught. The Wiggin daughters feel profound loyalty to their father, but over the course of the story, they begin to see him as a deeply flawed human being. Read the lyrics of Who Are Parents?, a song from the Shaggs original album, and compare with Betty’s quote from her 1997 interview. How do both of these sentiments inform your experience of the show? How may the Wiggin sisters have felt conflicted about their father? When you attend the production, think about how song is used to reveal how the Wiggin family relationships change over time.


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