As I wrapped up Bob Seger Week just over a week ago, I commented that I had a lot of fun with it and hoped to do another “artist week” soon.  Our friend Keith threw out two suggestions for my next series … Three Dog Night and Jackson Browne.  Both have some really good songs that I love, so I was having a hard time deciding and asked my daughter, who knows my taste in music better than anybody, which she thought I would do best with, to which after some “hmmmm”s, chin-rubbing and head-scratching, she said probably Three Dog Night.  And thus, today is the official beginning of Three Dog Night Week!  Feel free to make requests or suggestions!  Now, let’s have some fun with Three Dog Night!

I’m starting the week off with what is considered to have been their biggest hit on both sides of the pond.   According to SongFacts …

This was written by Randy Newman, the nephew of Academy Award-winning composer Lionel Newman. The song is about a party that left a “bad taste” in the writer’s mouth. The drug scene was fairly new to American middle-class youth at that time.

Randy Newman explained in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone: “It’s a guy going to a party, and he’s a little scared. The first line (“Will you have whiskey with your water or sugar with your tea”) was a vague connection to acid. I don’t remember being thrown off by that stuff then. If I was that unsophisticated – which is possible – I wouldn’t admit it.”

Eric Burdon & The Animals released the first version of this song, including it on their 1967 album Eric Is Here. That same year, P.J. Proby also covered the song.

At this point, Randy Newman had yet to release any solo material. When he started recording his own material (starting with his 1968 debut album) many of the songs had already been recorded by others. “Mama Told Me Not to Come” was included on his second album, 12 Songs, which came out around the same time Three Dog Night issued it. Newman had little chart success as an artist in these early years, but Three Dog Night did, and their raucous rendition was the one listeners preferred. Newman at first dismissed them as a “teeny-bopper” band, but later rescinded that statement, saying he liked their version a great deal.

He enjoyed the royalty checks as well, a fact confirmed by Three Dog Night’s lead singer Cory Wells who said after it became a #1 hit, Newman called him and said “I just want to thank you for putting my kids through college.”

This song has the distinction of being the very first #1 hit on the American Top 40 syndicated radio program. The show, hosted by Casey Kasem, became popular on AM radio throughout the world until its decline in the mid-1990s. This beat out The Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road” (their last hit record before the final breakup) and Elvis Presley’s “The Wonder of You” for top chart honors in early August 1970.

This charted at #1 in the U.S., #2 in Canada, and #3 in the UK.  Billboard ranked the record as the #11 song of 1970. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 14, 1970. It was also the number-one song on the premiere broadcast of American Top 40 with Casey Kasem on July 4, 1970.

Mama Told Me (Not To Come)

Three Dog Night

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 (uh-uh)

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 (oh, yeah!)

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”)

Mama told me, mama told me
Mama told me, told me, told me
Mama told me
Oh, yeah
Mama told me, not to go…

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 (look at you)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son

Listen to mama, listen to me baby
Mama told me, not to go…

That ain’t the way to have fun, no (yeah!)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son (somebody tell ’em)
That ain’t the way to have fun, no (mama)
That ain’t the way to have fun, son

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Randy Newman

Mama Told Me (Not to Come) lyrics © Unichappell Music Inc., Walt Disney Music Company