Tell Mama...............Janis Lyn Joplin

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
All about it.
Well, 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
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 he 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, babe.

Whoaa... rock & roll!

... baby,
Wasn't worth all the time that you spent.
And that same man that throwed you outdoors,
I just heard that he torn 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.

Tell your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Your mama, babe!
Hey 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 day, Lord.

And I'd figured
I'll tell you, when you go lonely, an' I figure everybody does, right ?
Because as a matter of fact everybody does.
I figure if you're a woman
Man if you're really a woman
You already know what you need, man.
You already know what you're looking for,
Man, i found out out at fourteen years old
And I been lookin' for it every since, too, man.

But, if you happen to be a young cat,
You know like about seventeen years old, just about
If you happen to be a young cat and you ain't figured it out yet,
I'll tell you what you need, baby,
When you got those strange thoughts in your head
You got those strange little weirdenesses happening to you, you don't know what they are
I'll tell ya what you need ”

You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe,
Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe.
You need a sweet lovin' mama, babe.
Honey, sweet talkin' mama, babe.

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

You need a mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, baby
Lordy, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama.
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, yeah!
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, yeah!
Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, yeah!

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 I can do
Tell your mama, babe

Yeah your mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whoa mama babe!
Whaa mama babe!

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