Written by Bobbie Gentry
Mama, can I, huh, mama, can I, huh, huh, can I, mama
Won’t you please let me, mama, can I, huh
That’s the sweetest little dress Sally where’d you get the pattern?
Make me one just like it outta yella dotted swiss
Yes, I got the earliest garden in the county
Beneath the strawberries are a heap o’ snappin’ green beans
(It’s been so long since I saw you
How’s your family, too bad about your boy)
Mama, make Willie quit pullin’ at my hair
Mama, ouch, ouch, mama, just make Willie quit it
(Tommy, if you don’t put down that stick
I’m gonna wear you out with it, boy, ‘n’ be quick)
Come quick, Sarah Jane’s stuck her finger in a bottle
Can’t get it out ’cause it’s stuck, stuck, stuck
(Dad finally had his operation
You know how he is at puttin’ off things)
(I told y’ my mama didn’t raise no fools
I can do anything if I got the right tools)
Mama, can I, huh, mama, can I, huh, huh, can I, mama
Won’t you please let me, mama, can I, huh
(The crops been failin’, oh, it sure is dry
You’d think it would give a sprinkle, by and by)
(Family reunion)
Gonna tear you up, girl, gonna get a switch
You better tell your cousin that you’re sorry that you hit her
(Ida McGuinness’s in love with Abell’s oldest boy
It’s apt to kill their ma)
(I told you once, it’s been a thousand times
Quit askin’ your uncles for nickels and dimes)
Mama, make Willie quit pullin’ at my hair
Mama, ouch, ouch, mama, just make Willie quit it
(I told y’ my mama didn’t raise no fools
I can do anything if I got the right tools)
(Family reunion)
Did it again, put her finger in a coke bottle
Can’t get it out ’cause it’s stuck, stuck, stuck
(I heard this mornin’ they dragged the Tallahatchie River
And found poor Billie gone)
(Ah, a little head cold, that’s all you have
You can fix it right up with a jar of Vick’s salve)
It’s the first time ever this family’s been together
It’s so nice that we all get along so well
(Family reunion)
(He’s got the money, you’d think he’d try to do
Somethin’ for his mama before she died)
Now I don’t mean to criticise your cookin’, no I don’t
But I think that you could add a little bit o’ pepper
(Harvey, I’d love to have your recipe
Is that the cake you served last Sunday)
(I told y’ my mama didn’t raise no fools
I can do anything if I got the right tools)
Mama, make Willie quit pullin’ at my hair
Mama, ouch, ouch, mama, just make Willie quit it
(Why, yes, I guess
An’ don’t you look nice in your Sunday dress)
Don’t Sally look silly in her tacky little dress
She’s a silly bitch, she just don’t know no better
(Can you imagine, she let her daughter, Rosalie
Go off to Memphis by herself)
Mama, can I, huh, mama, can I, huh, huh, can I, mama
Won’t you please let me, mama, can I, huh