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 My friend 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
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 say that's the way,
it ought to stay, yeah, yeah, oh...
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 you 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 ought to be, oh, don't you know now
Mama said, mama said that's the way,
it's gonna stay, yeah, oh...
