I'm Livin' In Shame )
Diana Ross and the Supremes Lyrics

Mom was cooking bread,
My mother was baking bread while wearing a raggedy scarf on her head.

she wore a dirty raggety scarf around her head.
My mother's scarf was stained and torn due to years of using it for household work.

Always had her stockings low,
My mother wore her stockings low, scrunched at her feet, unaware of the latest fashion trends.

rolled to her feet, she just didn't know.
She never paid attention to fashion trends or style.

She wore a sloppy dress,
My mother wore a messy dress that never seemed to look nice, no matter how much she tried.

No matter how she tried, she always looked a mess.
Regardless of how hard she tried, she never looked presentable or fashionable.

Out of the pot she ate, never used a fork or a dinner plate.
She preferred eating out of the pot directly and never bothered with using a utensil or plate.

I was always so ashamed for my uptown friends to see her,
I was embarrassed for my friends from the high society to find out about my mother's appearance and unconventional habits.

Afraid one day when I was grown that I would be her.
I was scared of becoming like my mother; embarrassed and ashamed of my identity and background.

In a college town, away from home, a new identity I found.
Away from home, in a college town, I discovered a new sense of identity and belonging.

Said I was born elite, with maids and servants at my feet.
I pretended to be born into a wealthy family with people of low socioeconomic statuses working for me.

I must have been insane,
It was bewildering and foolish of me to lie about my background and upbringing.

I lied and said my mom died on a weekend trip to Spain.
I fabricated a lie that my mother was dead due to a trip to Spain to distance myself from her and my original identity.

She never got out of the house, never even boarded a train.
My mother never left the house or even traveled on a train in her entire life.

I married a guy, was livin' high,
I got married to a wealthy person and started living an extravagant lifestyle.

I didn't want him to know her,
I didn't want my husband to find out about my mother and my past life.

She had a grandson, two years old,
My mother had a two-year-old grandson, my son.

I never even showed her.
I never even introduced my mother to my son; I kept her hidden away from my new life.

Came the telegram,
I received a telegram conveying the message of my mother's death.

mom passed away while making homemade jam.
My mother died while preparing homemade jam.

Before she died, she cried to see me by her side.
Before breathing her last breath, my mother yearned to have me near her.

She always did her best, Ah! cookin', cleanin', always in the same old dress.
My mother always tried her best to take care of us and the household, cooking and cleaning, relentlessly, in her old dress.

Workin' hard down on her knees, always try'n to please.
She worked her way through life, trying her hardest to make everyone happy.

Momma! Momma! Do you hear me, Momma! Momma! Momma! Do you hear me, Momma!
I am now remorseful, remembering my mother, conveying my love and pain despite the distance between us

I'm Livin' In Shame, Momma, I miss you.
I live in guilt and despair for having distanced myself from my mother, and now that she is gone, I miss her.

I'm Livin' In Shame, Momma, I miss you.
I am still living with the regret and sadness of forsaking my mother and not being there with her in her last moments.