In 1973, Columbia Records wisely turned the production of Tanya Tucker's sophomore effort over to senior producer Billy Sherrill. There was a lot at stake considering the kind of backlash country critics were infamous for. Tucker and Sherrill proved she was no fly-by-night child star with What's Your Mama's Name. They put the songwriting team of Montgomery & Frazier on the map with the title track, which was almost as catchy and certainly as lyrically deep as "Delta Dawn." When Tucker sang "Horeshoe Bend," about a young woman losing her virginity to a rounder, people were captivated — though not as much as they would be when she issued David Allan Coe's "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" a year later. In other words, the prurient interests of the country music public were piqued, but it didn't matter because Tucker's voice kicked ass and the material was top-notch. Sherrill's experimenting in the studio certainly paid off: even songs like "California Cotton Fields" and "Teddy Bear Song" balanced out the risqué tunes. It also didn't hurt that Tucker is pictured on the back cover sitting on a porch swing in a coat holding a puppy. The mixture of a young woman's budding yet brazen sexuality and innocence combined with the voice of a fully developed artist were too much to resist, even for cynics. Her traditional chips were unquestionable given her Hank Williams cover on her debut and "California Cotton Fields" (also by Montgomery & Frazier) here, which slotted her in the mainstream for good. While the second side is as strong as the first, it is marked by the genius read of Curly Putnam's "Blood Red and Goin' Down," a tragic story of a father relating the story of his unfaithful wife to his daughter before taking homicidal action on the illicit lovers. Given that it was the second single, it proved that Tucker's story songs were exactly what the public wanted from her. With the Nashville Edition and the Jordanaires behind her, the song is bigger than life. "Song Man" was a small taste of the kind of country-rock and pop that Tucker would pioneer later in her career, making for an album every bit as — and more — satisfying than her debut.

TANYA TUCKER
WHAT'S YOUR MAMA'S NAME
(Columbia KC-32272)
April/1973
Produced by Billy Sherrill


Recorded:
Jan/1973, Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville

1.
WHAT'S YOUR MAMA'S NAME CHILD
(Dallas Frazier - Earl Montgomery)
« © '73 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »

What's your mama's name child what's your mama's name
Thirty some odd years ago a young man came to Memphis
Asking bout a rose that used to blossom in his world
People never took the time to mind the young man's questions
Till one day they heard him ask a little green eyed girl

What's your mama's name child what's your mama's name
Does she ever talk about a place called New Orleans
Has she ever mentioned a man named Buford Wilson
What's your mama's name child what's your mama's name

Twenty some odd years ago a drunkard down in Memphis
Lost a month of life and labored to the country jail
Just because he asked a little green eyed girl a question
And offered her a nickel's worth of candy if she'd tell

A year and some odd days ago an old man died in Memphis
Just another wayward soul the county had to claim
Inside the old man's ragged coat they found a faded letter
That said you have a daughter and her eyes are Wilson green

What's your mama's name child...
What's your mama's name child what's your mama's name
**********
2.
HORSESHOE BEND
(Bobby Borchers - Mack Vickery)
« © '73 Tree Publishing, BMI »

It's been a Saturday everyday and a whole month of Sundays
And I get sadder every day he's gone

Horseshoe Bend old friend that's been so long since we saw him
When he laid me down upon your banks and made this girl a woman
As the Virgin Mother sang us a song
Horseshoe Bend he's just like you old river he'll keep rolling
And I'll keep praying someday he'll come home

It's been a Saturday everyday...

Here comes Frank again old friend and there ain't no sign of him
But just because I can't see him don't mean I forgot him
And I'll keep praying someday he'll come home

It's been a Saturday everyday...
[ guitar - steel ]
Horseshoe Bend old friend that's been...
It's been a Saturday everyday...
**********
3.
CHOKIN' KIND
(Harlan Howard)
« © '64 Tree Publishing, BMI »

I only meant to love you don't you know it babe
Why couldn't you be contented with the love I gave
I've given you my heart and now you want my mind
Your love scares me to death boy it's the chokin' kind

You can kill a girl with bullets poison or a knife
But it hurts her more to take her pride and ruin her life
Whatever it is you want boy I hope you find
But that hat don't fit my head it's the chokin' kind
[ strings ]
When you fall in love again now take a tip from me
If you don't like the peaches walk on by the tree
Find what you want and keep it treat it sweet and kind
But let it breathe don't make your love the chokin' kind
But let it breathe don't make your love the chokin' kind
**********
4.
CALIFORNIA COTTONFIELDS
(Dallas Frazier - Earl Montgomery)
« © '69 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI / Glad Music, BMI / Pappy Daily Music, BMI »

My driftin' mem'ry goes back to the spring of '43
When I was just a child in mama's arms
My daddy plowed the ground and prayed that some day he could leave
This run down mortaged Oklahoma farm

Then one night I heard my daddy sayin' to my mama
He finally saved enough for us to go
California was his dream a paradise wall he had seen
Pictures in magazines that told him so

California cottonfields
Where labor camps were filled with worried men with broken dreams
California cottonfields was as close to wealth as daddy ever came
[ ac.guitar ]
Almost everything we had to sow we left behind
From my daddy's plows to the fruit that mama canned
Some folks came to say farewell and see what all we had to sell
Some just came to shake my daddy's hand

The Model A was loaded down and California bound
And a change of luck was just four days away
But the only change that I remember seeing for my daddy
Was when his dark hair had turned to silver gray

California cottonfields...
California cottonfields...
**********
5.
TEDDY BEAR SONG
(Nick Nixon - Don Earl)
« © '72 Songs Of Universal, BMI »

I wish I had button eyes and red fat nose
Shaggy cotton skin and just one set of clothes
Sittin' on the shelf in the local department store
With no dreams to dream and nothing to be sorry for
I wish I was a Teddy Bear not livin' nor lovin' or goin' nowhere
I wish I was a Teddy Bear and I'm wishin' that I hadn't fallen in love with you

I wish I had a wooden heart and a sawdust mind
Then your mem'ry wouldn't come around hurtin' all the time
I'd have a sewed on smile and a painted twinkle in my eye
And I never would've ever had to learn how to cry

I wish I was a Teddy Bear...

I wish I had a string you'd pull to make me say
Hi I'm Teddy ain't it a lovely day
Then I'd know everytime I spoke the words were right
And no one would know the mess I made in my life

I wish I was a Teddy Bear...
And I'm wishin' I hadn't fallen in love with you
**********
6.
BLOOD RED AND GOIN' DOWN
(Curly Putman)
« © '73 Tree Publishing, BMI »

That Georgia sun was blood red and goin' down
That Georgia sun was blood red and goin' down

Daddy said now come girl we're headed down the road to Augusta
And faintly through his clenched teets he called mama's name and then he cussed her
He said girl you're young but some dude has come along and stole your mother
But you can't steal a willin' mind cause mama's always looking for a lover

That Georgia sun was blood red...

With dusty teardrops on his face my daddy cried and big steps he was taking
Halfway running to keep up my shorter legs were so tired and shaking
Where did I go wrong girl why she did leave us both this way
At times like these a child of ten never knows exactly what to say

That Georgia sun was blood red...

We searched in every barroom and honky tonk as well
And finally daddy found them and Lord you know the rest is heard to tell
He sent me out to wait but scared I looked back through the door
And daddy left them both soakin' up the sawdust on the floor

That Georgia sun was blood red...
That Georgia sun was blood red...
**********
7.
SONG MAN
(Dallas Frazier - Arthur Leo Owens)
« © '73 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »

On the sidewalks of Savannah there's a known man ragged and blind
He don't beg and he don't steal and he don't fool with wine
With an old guitar in his wrinkled hands a thousand songs in his mind
You can't keep your heart from lovin' the song man when you'll hear him cry

Song man what's off for a dime
I got songs that'll make you happy songs that'll make you cry
I got a special one for man's blues two for the price of one
It won't cost you a thing to hear me sing my favorite gospel song
Lord I'm coming home Lord I'm coming home
I've been a partner to devil too long Lord I'm coming home
[ piano - guitar ]
The old timers in Savannah have known him all of the life
They all say that he's done scene a hundred years go by
With an old dog he calls Lovely John he starts at the break of dawn
And he don't stop as long as someone wants to hear him sing a song

Song man what's off for a dime...
**********
8.
MISSING PIECE OF PUZZLE
(Mark Sherrill - Leon Sherrill)
« © '73 Al Gallico Music, BMI »

You're the sunshine that warms my heart each day
You're the rainbow when gray clouds roll away
You're the melody for the words that my heart's been tryin' to think of
You're that missing piece of puzzle that it takes to put together love

You're the paint on the canvas where an artist spilled his dream
You're something to believe in an answer prayer for me
You're my guiding angel sent from heaven above
You're that missing piece of puzzle that it takes to put together love

You're that missing piece of puzzle that it takes to make my life complete
You're something to remember when I'm down and need to get back on my feet
You're that missing piece of puzzle that it takes to put together love
You're that missing piece of puzzle that it takes to put together love
**********
9.
RAINY GIRL
(Tanya Tucker - Codye Hancock)
« © '73 Sherrill Music, BMI »

Maybe you wish I was someone else I tried so hard to be myself
But I can see you need a change some folks get tired of the rain
Some folks get tired of the rain

One sunny day you'll change your mind and look for clouds but you'll find
Your rainy girl won't rain no more some folks get tired of the rain
Some folks get tired of the rain

Hope you find those sunny days as bright as you thought they would be
Remember who wanted what a change it was you babe not me
My love will last for evermore just like the rain my love will pour
And when you go I love again some folks don't tire of the rain
Some folks don't tire of the rain some folks get tired of the rain
**********
10.
PASS ME BY (IF YOU'RE ONLY PASSING THROUGH)
(Hillman Hall)
« © '72 Leahrae Music, BMI »

Would you look at what came down the road today
Wanting me to be one more mistake to make
A bridge to burn to get to someone knew
Hey pass me by if you're only passing through

You sure look like the traveling kind to me
Don't stop if this ain't where you want to be
I don't know what you think you've run into
Hey pass me by if you're only passing through
[ steel + harmonica ]
I'm not gonna be your stepping stone
Among the other hearts that you've walked on
Lord help me if I fall in love with you
Hey pass me by if you're only passing through
Hey pass me by if you're only passing through
**********
11.
TEACH ME THE WORDS TO YOUR SONG
(Rory Bourke - Gayle Barnhill)
« © '73 Careers Music, BMI »

I hope it's all that I'd found this may be my last time around
I tried so long but it's always gone wrong
Cause I don't know the words to your song

Teach me the words to your song teach me and I'll sing along
I don't care anymore if it's right or it's wrong
Just teach me the words to your song
[ guitar - piano ]
I've been hurt time after time I've laid my heart on the line
I want to stay while the feelin's so strong
So teach me the words to your song

Teach me the words to your song...
Just teach me the words to your song
**********