three dog night mama told me not to come meaning
Mama Told Me Not to Come Newman says that the song was inspired by his own lighthearted reflection on the Los Angeles music scene of the late 1960s. As with most Newman songs, he assumes a character - in "Mama..." the narrator is a sheltered and extraordinarily straight-laced young man, who recounts what is presumably his first "wild" party in the big city, is shocked and appalled by marijuana smoking, whiskey drinking, and loud music and — in the chorus of the song — recalls his "mama told [him] not to come."