Song Lyrics

Janis Joplin!!

Three, four.

Yeah!!!
Yeah!!!
Whoaa ... yeah!!!

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

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


LP Columbia AS 1377 (promo)
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 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, daddy, I swear!

Hey!

That girl you had didn't have no sense, dear,
Wasn't worth all the time that you spent.
And that same man that throwed you outdoors,
I just heard that he stole 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, baby.

Tell your mama, babe!
Tell your mama, babe!
Tell 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 time you gotta cry.

Well, I'll tell you, dear
If you're a woman
I can only assume
That you already know what you're looking for, baby.

If you ever, if you were lookin', if you were lonely
if you were lookin', or lonely,
I know what you're lookin' for,
And I figured it out at fourteen years old
And I been lookin' for it every since, too, man.

However, if you happen to be a very young man,
(Preferably a young man)
I'll tell you what you need, man,
When you wake up an' it doesn't feel right, man,
Your head don't feel right, nothin' feels right
I'll tell ya what you need ¡ª

You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe,
Sweet talkin' mama, baby.
You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe.

You need someone to listen to you,
Someone to talk to you,
Someone to hear you
Someone to want you
Someone to need you
Someone to use you
Someone to hold you

Want you, talk, listen, hold ya, want you, need you,
Hold you, need you, want you, need you, hold you,
Won't you need me mama, mama, mama, mama baby
Hey now, mama, mama, mama, mama, baby
Lord, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, baby
Hey, mama, mama, mama, mama, babe.

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, baby, I can do for you
Tell your mama, babe

Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!

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

Alright!

Wilbur Terrell, Marcus Daniel, Clarence Carter

The duration of Tell Mama is 5:46 minutes and seconds.