Bout 10 years old, hide and seek

I found me in the closet

Ready or not I stumbled on 

And opened up that box of

Yearbooks letters, black and whites

A hundred maybe more 

Next thing I know my brothers and me

Got'em scattered on the floor



There was one of her flippin' a bird

Sittin' on a Harley

He was some hairy hippie dude

Turns out his name was Charlie

Her hair her clothes her drinkin' smokin'

Had us boys confused

I'll never forget the day us nosy kids

Got introduced



To Mama, fore she was Mama

In a string bikini in Tijuana

Won't admit she

Smoked marijuana

But I saw Mama

‘Fore she was Mama



We put that box right where it was

And never said a word

Oh, growing up got hard 

Just trying not to picture her

In anything but aprons, dresses, minivans and church

Oh and Daddy would've whooped our butts

For digging up that dirt



On Mama ‘fore she was mama

In a string bikini in Tijuana

She won't admit she

Smoked marijuana

But I saw Mama 

‘Fore she was Mama



We laugh and hang it over her head

Right above her halo

Her face turns red when we bring up

That tye-dyed Winnebago

She runs and hides and still denies 

That hip high rose tattoo

She burned that box of forget-me-nots

When she found out we knew



Bout Mama, fore she was Mama

In a string bikini in Tijuana

Won't admit she 

Smoked marijuana

That was Mama,

Fore she was Mama



And there's that one down

In the Bahamas

But that was Mama

Fore she was Mama