(Ry Cooder) 



Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

'Cause you treat her so mean and she's only sweet sixteen 



It was late last Friday evening, when everything was still 

I heard somebody calling my name outside my window sill 

I got up and I looked outside strainin' my eyes to see 

And my heart went wild when I realized just who was calling me 



I hollered 

Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

'Cause you treat her so mean and she's only sweet sixteen 



Now, her eyes were blazing up at me 

Her hair was black as night 

And her naked skin shone like gold 

Out in the pale moonlight 

She took my hand and she pulled me down 

Where the grass had grown up tall 

The she moved her body all around 

Just like a cannon ball 



Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

Hey, mama, don't you treat your daughter mean 

'Cause you treat her so mean and she's only sweet sixteen 



Yonder comes your mama, girl, 'cross the field 

Runnin' and a-shakin' like an automobile 

Daddy's got a shotgun in his hand 

They just don't understand 

The first time I seen that sweet girl 

She was runnin' home from Sunday school 

And the next time I seen that sweet little girl 

Was when she broke her mama's rule 

But the last time I seen that sweet little girl 

She was filled with a strange desire 

Rollin' and tumblin' out on the cold wet ground 

Her skin burnin' up just like a cane fire 

She called my name a thousand ways 

The tears came streaming down her face 

But just when I was 'bout to blow my stack 

Her daddy came a-creepin' and a-crawlin' up behind 

And he shot me in the back