Messin’ With The Music Part 21 – ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’

We’re back with another cover tune for our ‘Messin With The Music’ series. This time we did our take on the Three Dog Night song ‘Mama Told Me Not To Come’. The song was originally released on their 1970 album ‘It Ain’t Easy’. The song was written by Randy Newman and was first recorded by Eric Burdon and The Animals in 1967. Newman also recorded his own version. Each version was a bit different with the Three Dog Night version hitting a funky, rock and roll style. The Three Dog Night version eventually hit number one on the pop charts. Our cover stuck with the usual Messin’ rules – acoustic instruments with each track played straight through. To fill out the basic sound, there are two acoustic guitars panned hard left and right as well as two tracks on six string banjo also panned to each side. There are bass and mandolin tracks as well as several different tracks with hand percussion. We have a single vocal track in the verses and multiple vocal tracks in the chorus. We tried to keep the same upbeat fun feel as the original track, with the amused observations of the party in the verses. It was a fun recording – there’s an interesting time signature difference between the verses and choruses. Hope you enjoy it.