Tell Mama (song)
| "Tell Mama" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Etta James | |
| from the album Tell Mama | |
| A-side | Tell Mama |
| B-side | I'd Rather Go Blind |
| Released | 1967 |
| Recorded | 1967, FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama |
| Genre | R&B |
| Length | 2:20 |
| Label | Cadet 5578 |
| Writer(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Rick Hall |
"Tell Mama" is a song written by Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel and Wilbur Terrell (though some recordings give the sole songwriting credit to Carter). It is best known in its 1967 recording by Etta James. An earlier version of the song was first recorded in 1966 by Carter, as "Tell Daddy".
Carter co-wrote "Tell Daddy", and recorded it at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on 4 October 1966. His recording, released on the Fame label, became Carter's first chart hit, reaching no.35 on the Billboard R&B chart in early 1967.
After a period of isolation, Etta James returned to recording in 1967. Chess Records' executive Leonard Chess persuaded her to record at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, which had recently produced a string of hits for such singers as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Percy Sledge. Using producer Rick Hall, and musicians including Barry Beckett, David Hood, Roger Hawkins and Spooner Oldham, many of whom had also worked on Clarence Carter's recordings, she recorded an album, Tell Mama, there between August and December 1967. The song "Tell Mama" – with the original version of "I'd Rather Go Blind" as its B-side – was released as a single on the Cadet label, and entered the R&B chart in November 1967. It rose to no.10 on the R&B chart, and no.23 on the pop chart, becoming her biggest pop hit.
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