Mother Earth and Father Time

"Mother Earth and Father Time" is a song from the MusicAL animated film Charlotte's Web written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. It is introduced in the story by Charlotte, the spider, voiced by Debbie Reynolds. It is reprised once more in the film as Charlotte is dying.

According to The Annotated Charlotte's Web by Peter F. Neumeyer, some fans of the book are not in favor of the song's placement in the film because it supplants E. B. White's narrative words, "...And she didn't move again." which purists find extremely moving.

The Sherman Brothers' father, songwriter Al Sherman, believed the Charlotte's Web song score, and "Mother Earth and Father Time" in particular, to be the brothers' finest work. The lyric addresses the idea of putting perspective on one's life. In the storyline the song is sung by Charlotte at the end of her life. Ironically, Al Sherman passed away shortly after the film was released.

Literary sources

• Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond. Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.
• Neumeyer, Peter F. Annotated Charlotte's Web, The. New York City: HarperTrophy, 1997