Lyrics to
Mama Couldn’t Be Persuaded

This version of Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded was released by Warren Zevon in 1976.

Our Decade Lyrics Warren Zevon profile has all of the Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded lyrics from 1976 and many more songs from the Warren Zevon discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Warren Zevon or about the 1970s in general.

Gambler ambled down a country lane
Looking for a game of chance
She was twenty-one or two
And she knew what she wanted
And she wanted that gamblin’ man

Her parents warned her
Tried to reason with her
She was determined that she wanted Bill
They’d all be offended at the mention still
If they heard this song, which I doubt they will

And my mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with her
No, no nevertheless
I said my mama couldn’t be persuaded
when they pleaded with her,
“Daughter, don’t marry that gamblin’ man.”

Gambler tried to be a family man
Though it didn’t suit his style
He thought he had him a winning combination
So he took us where the stakes were high
Her parents warned her
Tried to reason with her
Never kept their disappointment hid
They all went to pieces when the bad luck hit
Stuck in the middle, I was the kid

And my mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with her,
No, no, nevertheless,
My Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When my Granny pleaded with her
Not to marry that gamblin’ man.

I said my mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man
Mama couldn’t be persuaded
When they pleaded with their daughter
don’t marry that gamblin’ man

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Warren Zevon has released many songs over the years besides Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded. Warren Zevon released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Wanted Dead Or Alive, Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School, Stand In The Fire, The Envoy, Sentimental Hygiene, Transverse City, Hindu Love Gods, Mr. Bad Example, Mutineer, Life'll Kill Ya, My Ride's Here, and The Wind. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Warren Zevon.

If you're a fan of lyrics from 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded by Warren Zevon

The lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Warren Zevon used when the song was created in 1976. The lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Warren Zevon and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded by Warren Zevon. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded" means the words set to the music of Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Warren Zevon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded and the lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Warren Zevon who came here looking just for the lyrics to Mama Couldn’T Be Persuaded, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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