I don't know how I'm gonna tell you
I can't play with you no more
I don't know how I'm gonna do
What mama told me
Ma fren', the boy next door

I can't believe what people saying
You're gonna let your hair hang down
I'm satisfied to sit here working all day long
You're in the darker side of town

And when I'm out I see you walking
Why don't your eyes see me?
Oh, could it be you've found another game to play?
What did mama say to me?

That's the way
Oh, that's the way it ought to be yeah, yeah
Mama said, oh, mama said
That's the way it ought to stay, yeah, yeah, uh, uh

And yesterday I saw you standing by the river
And weren't those tears that filled your eyes?
And all the fish that lay in dirty water dying
Had they got you hypnotized?

And yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers
But all that lives is born to die
And so I say to you that nothing really matters
And all you do is stand and cry

I don't know what to say about it
When all your ears have turned away
But now's the time to look
And look again at what you see
Is that the way it ought to stay?

That's the way
That's the way it oughta be
Oh, don't you know now
Mama said, mama said
That's the way it's gonna stay, yeah
Oh, oh, oh