The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #13175   Message #3984840
Posted By: Jim Dixon
27-Mar-19 - 07:08 PM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chord Req: Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad)
Subject: Lyr Add: SWEET MAMMA (PAPA'S GETTING MAD)
Here are the complete lyrics, from the sheet music at UCLA. The sheet music doesn't show chords by name or diagram, but somebody who is more musically literate than I am could probably figure them out.


SWEET MAMMA (PAPA'S GETTING MAD)
Words and music by Fred Rose, George A. Little & Peter L. Frost, ©1920.

1. My sweet mamma packed her grip and started away,
Said she was leaving town.
Now if I'd only thought and would have asked her to stay,
She might have set it down.
I'm feelin' awfully lonesome and blue
Since she went away,
So I sat down and wrote a little letter to her.
Here's what I had to say:

CHORUS: Sweet mamma, papa's getting mad.
I know the sweetest peaches don't grow on trees.
I know the sweetest honey don't come from bees.
I'm tired of listening to your corrections.
You'd better hunt yourself some good protection.
Sweet mamma, papa's done gone mad.
I never thought I'd ever feel this bad.
You flirted with the butcher and you flirted with the baker,
But now you're flirting with the undertaker.
Sweet mama, papa's getting mad.

2. My sweet mamma got the letter I sent away
And made a beeline home,
Said she was missin' all my kissin' both night and day
'Cause she was all alone.
I found and framed the note I wrote to her
As a souvenir.
Now ev'ry time she starts getting naughty with me,
I whisper in her ear: CHORUS

* * *
The Internet Archive has these early recordings:
Marion Harris – 1920
Aileen Stanley – 1920
Al Bernard with Carl Fenton's Orchestra – 1921
Southern Negro Quartette – 1921
Note: the Bernard and Quartette recordings are incorrectly cataloged with the spelling "Mama" although the record label says "Mamma". For the Stanley recording, both the catalog entry and the label say "Mama" although the sheet music says "Mamma". The Harris recording is consistently "Mamma."