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 girl 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.

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 oughtta be
Oh don't you know now, mama said.
That's the way it's gonna stay, yeah.
Mama said, mama said...
That's the way it's gonna stay, yeah. ahh, ahhh, ahhhhhhhh