“Mama Told Me Not to Come” (Three Dog Night)

Today’s classic song of the day is “Mama Told Me Not to Come” by Three Dog Night. Released as a single in May of 1970, this became the group’s first number-one hit. It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 in Canada, and #3 in the UK. Billboard ranked it the #11 tune for all of 1970.

Randy Newman wrote “Mama Told Me Not to Come” back in 1966, based on his unease attending hip and groovy West Coast parties back in the day. In his own words:

“Well, I’ll tell you, I never liked parties much. I remember the first thing I went to when I was like 11: boys and girls at somebody’s house or something, real loud, kids were smoking. It was alien. I can still hear the ringing in my ears.”

The first recording of “Mama Told Me Not to Come” was by Eric Burdon and the Animals on their 1967 album, Eric is Here. They didn’t released it as a single.

Randy Newman didn’t record his own version of the song until 1970, when it appeared on his seminal 1970 album, 12 Songs. It sounded a bit different from the version with which you’re no doubt familiar, delivered more in Newman’s idiosyncratic talking-singing style.

Cory Wells, one of the three lead singers in Three Dog Night, heard the song and thought it would be a perfect fit for his group. The other singers pushed back, no doubt put off by Mr. Newman’s own unique performance, but Wells had an idea for how it would work, including Jimmy Witherspoon’s electric piano accompaniment and his own slightly hammy vocals. The result was still somewhat unusual sounding but mainstream enough to be a huge hit. It was also the number-one song on the very first episode of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, broadcast on July 4, 1970.

So here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, Cory Wells and Three Dog Night performing “Mama Told Me Not to Come” live on some television program back in 1970. That ain’t no way to have fun, son…