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Savoy Brown - Tell Mama - 1971





Street Corner Talking is the seventh studio album by the band Savoy Brown. Released by Parrot in 1971 it was the first album released by the band since the departure of Lonesome Dave, Roger Earl, and Tone Stevens who all went on to form the band Foghat. This left Kim Simmonds as the only remaining member on the group from the previous line-up. Simmonds recruited a fresh lineup of musicians, predominantly members of the previous line-up of Chicken Shack; which had undergone a seismic change in membership similar to that which had affected Savoy Brown; which, in turn, ushered in a new sound for the band.


The new line-up was a hit. On stage in America, the group was supported by Rod Stewart and the Faces. On the album Street Corner Talking (1971) and Hellbound Train (1972) launched favorites "Tell Mama", "Street Corner Talking", a cover of the Temptations' Motown standard "I Can't Get Next To You" and the nine-minute epic "Hellbound Train" (decades later Love & Rockets adapted it as "Bound For Hell").


"Tell Mama" was composed by Paul Raymond and Kim Simmonds. Paul Raymond was recruited by UFO in 1976 and when Michael Schenker left UFO, he joined Schenker's own band, MSG, in 1981.






Lyrics


Quit my job, ain't got no money

Seems I have to leave this town

Packed my bags, run to the station

Board the train that's eastward bound


Tell mama and all the folks back home

Sometimes a man just feels

He's got to make it alone

Tell mama why I'm leaving so soon

Because this life I live

Has got me sick through and through


Nothing to do, that's why I had to go

Seemed no use in hanging 'round

I can't stop now, the ticket's in my hand

Board the train that's eastward bound


Tell mama and all the folks back home

Sometimes a man just feels

He's got to make it alone

Tell mama why I'm leaving so soon

Because this life I live

Has got me sick through and through


Quit my job, ain't got no money

Seems I have to leave this town


Tell mama and all the folks back home

Sometimes a man just feels

He's got to make it alone

Tell mama why I'm leaving so soon

Because this life I live

Has got me sick through and through



(Paul Raymond, Kim Simmonds)





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