Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Covers redux: Mama Told Me Not to Come
The radio is blastin’
Someone’s knocking at the door
I’m lookin’ at my girlfriend
She’s passed out on the floorI seen so many things
I ain’t never seen before
Don’t know what it is
I don’t wanna see no more— from Mama Told Me Not to Come, by Randy Newman
My first reaction: Randy ‘Don’t Want No Short People’ Newman wrote this song? Are you kidding me? But it’s true. Newman was about 24 when he wrote it. According to Wikipedia, the song satirizes the late 1960s Los Angeles music scene. But then, Wikipedia also claims “(t)he song is loaded with the black humor, sarcasm, and double entendre that made Newman famous.”
Meh. I don’t see it.
YouTube has a number of the song’s covers. I can’t find the original by Eric Burdon & The Animals, but they have the Three Dog Night version, of course. Too white trashy for my taste. I prefer the funkier version cut by Wolfgang Press, but damn it, I can’t find that on YouTube, either. (You can hear a tiny bit of it here, at Amazon. Track 3.) Harmony’s cover doesn’t veer much from Three Dog Night’s, but dig those striped pants. The Slacker’s cover is just plain lame.
You know who has the best feel for the song? Don’t laugh. Please.
Tom Jones.
This dude keeps impressing me.
D.
I adore Tom Jones. Marge Simpson and I would be in the front row trying to steal his shoelaces.
Didn’t Randy Newman also do the music for Toy Story?His song “When She Loved Me” in TS2 makes me cry every time. The bastard.
Well, now I just have to watch the movies!
That aint the way to have fun, SON lol
I like him, Lyvvie. But I don’t want to treasure his bikini thong.
rdb: I just wish someone would tell me the CORRECT way to have fun. I keep screwing up somehow.
Maybe you should mull over the title of the song for a bit. Newman has written plenty of fun stuff. “Political Science” (written 30 years ago and still topical!) People on YouTube love putting visuals to this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO42gvCSPI
…and “Shame,” one of my favorites, which this guy lips syncs amazingly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGd6nNPyeaw
Mama Told Me Not to Come to the party.
Jeez. Some people!
Tom the Great
Dr. Hoffman, that was fucking beautiful.