When You're Good To Mama

Album: Chicago (1975)
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  • [Broadway Version]

    Ask any of the chickies in my pen
    They'll tell I'm the biggest mother hen
    I love 'em all and all of them love me
    Because the system works
    The system called reciprocity...

    Got a little motto
    Always sees me through
    When you're good to Mama
    Mama's good to you!

    There's a lot of favors
    I'm prepared to do
    You do one for Mama
    She'll do one for you

    They say that life is tit for tat
    And that's the way I live
    So, I deserve a lot of tat
    For what I've got to give
    Don't you know that this hand
    Washes that one too
    When you're good to Mama
    Mama's good to you!

    If you want my gravy
    Pepper my ragout
    Spice it up for Mama
    She'll get hot for you

    When they pass that basket
    Folks contribute to
    You put in for Mama
    She'll pull out for you

    The folks atop the ladder
    Are the ones the world adores
    So boost me up my ladder, kid
    And I'll boost you up yours

    Let's all stroke together
    Like the Princeton crew
    When you're strokin' Mama
    Mama's strokin' you

    So what's the one conclusion
    I can bring this number to?
    When you're good to Mama
    Mama's good to you Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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