When I was young and pushed around
And beaten up and beaten down
Who'd I run to mama, tell me who?
And as I grew to be a man and all the world held such elan
I did what I thought I just had to do

It was you mama you, it was you all along
It was you I ran away from I was wrong
And if I could I'd change my life
I swear to God I'd cut it out with a knife
And with a glue stick I'd reapply it in a song

And laid back Kerouac never had no heart attack
Drinking and thinking about the place that he ran back to
The Moloch is an old man, the Moloch is a love-lack
Bending for a quick snack remembering his friend Jack
And mama sometimes I remember you

It was you mama you, it was you all along
It was you I ran away from I was wrong
And if I could I'd change my life
I swear to God I'd cut it out with a knife
And with a glue stick I'd reapply it in a song

Man loves woman, mother loves child
Sometimes I call my lady mama
So I can feel at home for a while
So I can feel at home for a while

Looking around at all the Mellencamp towns
The excuses and the nooses where the coffee grounds
I found places and traces of a storybook world
And I went out there for a ride on the misty coast but the holy host
Is under Mickey D's American flag and it's unfurled

It was you mama you, it was you all along
It was you I ran away from I was wrong
And if I could I'd change my life
I swear to God I'd cut it out with a knife
And with a glue stick I'd reapply it in a song

Man loves woman sometimes, mother loves child
Sometimes I call my lady mama
So I can feel at home for a while
So I can feel at home for a while