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Tell Mama Lyrics by Janis Joplin

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[Intro]
Alright, alright
I'm ready, man
Whoa, yeah

[Verse 1]
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

[Pre-Chorus]
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

[Chorus 1]
What you need
What you want
What you need
What you want
Whoa! and I'll make everything alright

[Chorus 2]
That girl you didn't have no sense, babe
Wasn't worth all the time that you spent
That same man he threw you outdoors
I just heard that he quartered your clothes, hey

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Whoa! Rock & roll

[Chorus 2]

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
Tell your mama, babe [x8]
Every time you get lonely, lonely, lonely [x4]
Every time you got to cry, cry[x3]
Every day, Lord

And I'd figured
I'll tell you, when you go lonely, and 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 looking 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 haven'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 weirdness happening to you
You don't know what they are
I'll tell ya what you need

You need a sweet loving mama, babe
Honey, sweet talking mama, babe
You need a sweet loving mama, babe
Honey, sweet talking 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} [x2]

You need a mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, baby [x5]

[Pre-Chorus]

[Bridge]
Yeah, your mama babe! [x8]

[Outro]
Yeah
And I'll make everything alright, yeah!
Hey, yeah!

About “Tell Mama” by Janis Joplin

Read the complete lyrics to "Tell Mama" by Janis Joplin. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Rock.

"Tell Mama" is performed by Janis Joplin. This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "Tell Mama", explore more songs by Janis Joplin using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

View all songs and biography for Janis Joplin · Trending lyrics · Billboard Hot 100

Frequently asked questions

"Tell Mama" is credited to Janis Joplin. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

Album information for "Tell Mama" is not available in our database yet. You can still read the full lyrics on this page.

Visit the Janis Joplin artist page at /artist/janis-joplin for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.


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