MMD > Archives > June 2011 > 2011.06.11 > 03Prev  Next


Piano/Organ/Accordion Trio First Tune
By Kip Williams

The correct attribution (from sheet music) is "Mama Don't Like Music,"
and the song is credited to Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette.

Smiley was Gene's sidekick in a number of movies, and he performed the
song and many others (my copy is in a Smiley Burnette folio with dozens
of tunes in it).  The chorus is "Mama don't 'low no ____..." but the
title is as given above, odd as it is.  I've seen Smiley perform the
song, either in a clip from a B western, or perhaps in a Soundie.  His
delivery is priceless.

The song is still remembered, by the way.  A Usenet music group I
participate in had a bunch of us coming up with new verses to the song.
I hope Gene and Smiley would be proud.

I have scanned the sheet music, cleaned it up a bit, and put it on my
Flickr page, along with the book's front and back cover and the inside
front cover biography of Smiley Burnette.  Here is a link to the sheet
music:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kipw/5821485542/in/photostream 

The way most people sing it these days has changed -- improved by the
folk process.  I'm not even sure Smiley sang it exactly like the sheet
music.

Kip Williams
Pittsford, NY


(Message sent Sat 11 Jun 2011, 12:18:05 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  First, Piano/Organ/Accordion, Trio, Tune
Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation
No PayPal account required
SSL Certificate
by
Let's Encrypt