Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What’s Your Mama’s Name, Child?
By Dallas Frazier & Earl Montgomery
(This is Tanya Tucker, apparently lip-synching to this recording, since she sounds identical to it, and I don’t see any musicians or backup singers accompanying her.)
What’s your mama’s name, child?
What’s your mama’s name?
Thirty some-odd years ago, a young man came to Memphis,
Asking ‘bout a rose that used to blossom in his world,
People never took the time to mind the young man’s questions,
Till one day they heard him ask a little green-eyed girl,
“What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
Does she ever talk about a place called New Orleans?
Has she ever mentioned a man named Buford Wilson?
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?”
Twenty some-odd years ago a drunkard down in Memphis,
Lost a month of life and labor to the county jail,
Just because he asked a little green-eyed girl a question,
And offered her a nickel’s worth of candy if she’d tell.
A year and some-odd days ago an old man died in Memphis,
Just another wayward soul the county had to claim,
Inside the old man’s ragged coat they found a faded letter,
That said, “You have a daughter, and her eyes are Wilson green.”
“What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
Does she ever talk about a place called New Orleans?
Has she ever mentioned a man named Buford Wilson?
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?”
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
By Dallas Frazier & Earl Montgomery
(This is Tanya Tucker, apparently lip-synching to this recording, since she sounds identical to it, and I don’t see any musicians or backup singers accompanying her.)
What’s your mama’s name, child?
What’s your mama’s name?
Thirty some-odd years ago, a young man came to Memphis,
Asking ‘bout a rose that used to blossom in his world,
People never took the time to mind the young man’s questions,
Till one day they heard him ask a little green-eyed girl,
“What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
Does she ever talk about a place called New Orleans?
Has she ever mentioned a man named Buford Wilson?
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?”
Twenty some-odd years ago a drunkard down in Memphis,
Lost a month of life and labor to the county jail,
Just because he asked a little green-eyed girl a question,
And offered her a nickel’s worth of candy if she’d tell.
A year and some-odd days ago an old man died in Memphis,
Just another wayward soul the county had to claim,
Inside the old man’s ragged coat they found a faded letter,
That said, “You have a daughter, and her eyes are Wilson green.”
“What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
Does she ever talk about a place called New Orleans?
Has she ever mentioned a man named Buford Wilson?
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?”
What’s your mama’s name, child, what’s your mama’s name?
