Who doesn't love a good one-shot? By this I mean a tune that is popular solely by dint of being odd, strange, weird or offbeat? This isn't to be confused with one-hit wonders, which are bands that hit the charts once and never do so again. I'm talking about stuff like Neil Young's "This Note's For You," in which he rails against being sponsored by Pepsi or Coke, or, well....I'll keep working on it.
But I went to a concert last night and the singer referenced "Mama Told Me (Not To Come) - originally written by Randy Newman, made famous by Three Dog Night - and now it's running round in my brain. The stoner narration, the goofy lyrics, the creaky zombie musical backing - it's quite a fun song, all about showing up at a wild party that's just a little above the comfort level of the person who walked through the door.
"Want some whiskey in your water / Sugar in your tea / What's all these crazy questions they askin' me /This is the craziest party there could ever be / Don't turn on the lights, 'cause I don't want to see / Mama told me not to come / Mama told me not to come / That ain't the way to have fun, no."
This song for me has always been a sonic touchstone, of sorts, something to pull out of one's head whenever the situation at hand gets to be just a little too much. As you might guess, it's a song that gets a lot of use
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