I don't know how I'm gonna tell you   I can't play with you no more   I don't know how I'm gonna do what mama told me   My friend, the boy next door      I can't believe what people saying   Gonna let your hair hang down   I'm satisfied to sit here working all day lo-o-o-ong   You're in the darker side of town      And when I'm out I see you walking   Why don't your eyes see me   Could it be you've found another game to play   What did mama say to me      That's the way   Oh, that's the way it ought to be, ahh-ohh, ohh-ahh, ahh-ahh, ohh-ohh, dont you know   Mama said, ohh, mama said   That's the way it ought to stay, ohh-hoh      And yesterday I saw you standing by the river   And weren't those tears that filled your eyes   And all the fish that lay in dirty water dying   Had they got you hypnotized      And yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers   But all that lives is born to die   And so I say to you that nothing really matterrs   And all you do is stand and cry      I don't know what to say about it   When all your ears have turned away   But now's the time to look and look again at what you see, ohhh   Is that the way it ought to stay      That's the way   Ohh, that's the way it oughta be, oh-hoh, oh-hoh, oh-hoh, oh-hoh, oh-hoh, no-no-no   Oh, dont you know now   Mama said, oh, mama said that's the way it's gonna stay, oh-hoh, oh-hoh, ohhh      Ahhh ahhh ahhh ahhhhhh      Ahhh ahhhhh