Lyrics to
Mama Told Me (Not To Come)

This version of Mama Told Me (Not To Come) was released by Three Dog Night in 1970.

Our Decade Lyrics Three Dog Night profile has all of the Mama Told Me (Not To Come) lyrics from 1970 and many more songs from the Three Dog Night discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Three Dog Night or about the 1970s in general.

Want some whiskey in your water?
Sugar in your tea?
What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me?
This is the craziest party that could ever be
Don’t turn on the lights ’cause I don’t wanna see

Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”

Open up the window, let some air into this room
I think I’m almost chokin’ from the smell of stale perfume
And that cigarette you’re smokin’ ’bout scare me half to death
Open up the window, sucker, let me catch my breath

Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”

The radio is blastin’, someone’s knockin’ at the door
I’m lookin’ at my girlfriend – she’s passed out on the floor
I seen so many things I ain’t never seen before
Don’t know what it is – I don’t wanna see no more

Mama told me not to come
Mama told me not to come
She said, “That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”

“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”

“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Three Dog Night?

Three Dog Night has released many songs over the years besides Mama Told Me (Not To Come). Three Dog Night released songs from 1968 to 1976 spanning across albums like Three Dog Night, Suitable For Framing, It Ain't Easy, Naturally, Harmony, Seven Separate Fools, Cyan, Hard Labor, Coming Down Your Way, and American Pastime. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Three Dog Night.

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

About Lyrics and Mama Told Me (Not To Come) by Three Dog Night

When you decide to study the lyrics to Mama Told Me (Not To Come), you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1970 song by Three Dog Night. Some of the lyrics to Mama Told Me (Not To Come) have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Three Dog Night and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Mama Told Me (Not To Come) if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Told Me (Not To Come)" means the words set to the music of Mama Told Me (Not To Come), or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Three Dog Night. 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 Told Me (Not To Come) and the lyrics to Mama Told Me (Not To Come) are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Three Dog Night who came here looking just for the lyrics to Mama Told Me (Not To Come), but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Three Dog Night

Visit our Three Dog Night profile for more Three Dog Night songs, lyrics & info!

)