Pam Sawyer, R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Henry Cosby, Berry Gordy
Stone Agate Music Division (BMI); Jobete Music Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
Prod: Berry Gordy, Frank Wilson, Henry Cosby, Deke Richards, & R. Dean Taylor
(Recorded November 1968) #10
Mom was cooking bread
She wore a dirty raggedy scarf around her head
Always had her stockings low low to her feet
She just didn't know
She wore a sloppy dress
Oh, no matter how she tried she always looked a mess
Out of the pot she ate, never used a fork or a dinner plate
I was always so afraid that my uptown friends would see her
Afraid one day when I was grown that I would be her
In a college town
Away from home a new identity I found
Said I was born elite with maids and servants at my feet
I must have been insane
I lied and said Ma died on a weekend trip to Spain
She never got out of the house, never even boarded a train
Married a guy, was living high
I didn't want him to know her
She had a grandson two years old
That I never even showed her
I'm living in shame, Mama I miss you
I know you're not to blame, Mama I miss you
Came the telegram
Mama passed away while making homemade jam
Before she died she cried to see me by her side
She always did her best
Oh, cook and clean and always in the same old dress
Working hard down on her knees always trying to please
Mama, Mama, Mama can you hear me?
Mama, Mama, Mama can you hear me?
I'm living in shame, Mama I miss you
I know you've done your best, Mama I miss you
Won't you forgive me, Mom
For all the wrong I've done
I know you've done your best
Ooh, I know you've done the very best you could
But I never understood
Working hard down on your knees
Mama you were always there
* Diana Ross and the Supremes' Greatest Hits Volume 3 ©1969