Tell Mama (Calgary 04 07 1970) lyrics

Song information

Artist: Janis Joplin
Album: Pearl

Lyrics

Alright!!!
Alright!!!
I'm ready, man!
Whoaa yeah!!!

You thought you had found yourself a good girl
One who would love you and give you the world
Then you find, honey, you've been misused
Come to me, honey, I'll do what you choose

I want you to
Well, tell mama
All about it
Well, tell mama
What you need
Tell your mama, babe
What you want
Tell your mama, babe

What you need
What you want
What you need
What you want
Whoa! an' I'll make everything alright

That girl you didn't have no sense, babe
Wasn't worth all the time that you spent
That same man he throwed you outdoors
I just heard that he quartered your clothes, hey!

Well, tell mama
All about it
Tell mama
What you need
Tell your mama, babe
What you want
Tell your mama, babe

What you need
What you want
What you need
What you want
Whoaaa! an' I'll make everything alright, babe

Whoaa... rock & roll!

... baby
Wasn't worth all the time that you spent
And that same man that throwed you outdoors
I just heard that he torn all your clothes, hey

Well, tell mama
All about it
Tell mama
What you need
Tell your mama, babe
What you want
Tell your mama, babe

What you need
What you want
What you need
What you want
Anything I can do
Anything I can do for you

Tell your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Hey your mama, babe!
Tell your mama, babe!
Tell your mama, babe!
Tell your mama, babe!

Hey!

Every time you get lonely, lonely, lonely
Every time you get lonely sometime
Every time you get lonely, lonely, lonely
Every time you get lonely sometime

Every time you got to cry, cry
Every time you gotta cry
Every time you got to cry, cry, cry
Every day, lord

And I'd figured
I'll tell you, when you go lonely, an' I figure everybody does, right ?
Because as a matter of fact everybody does
I figure if you're a woman
Man if you're really a woman
You already know what you need, man
You already know what you're looking for
Man, I found out out at fourteen years old
And I been lookin' for it every since, too, man

But, if you happen to be a young cat
You know like about seventeen years old, just about
If you happen to be a young cat and you ain't figured it out yet
I'll tell you what you need, baby
When you got those strange thoughts in your head
You got those strange little weirdenesses happening to you, you don't know what
They are
I'll tell ya what you need —

You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe
Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe
You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe
Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe

You need someone to listen to you
Someone to want you
Someone to hold you
Someone to need you
Someone to use you
Someone to want you
Someone to need you
Someone to hold you
Someone to want you
Someone to hold you

You need a mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, baby
Lordy, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama
Yeah!
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, yeah!
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, yeah!

Tell mama all about it
Tell mama all about it
What you need, what you want
What you need, what you want
Anything I can do
Anything I can do
Tell your mama, babe

Yeah your mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!

Yeah
An' I'll make everything alright, yeah!
Hey! yeah!

This is a song I heard years ago by the great nina simone, and I always wanted
To do it, so I did it, and I'm gonna do it again right now