Mama Don’t Allow

"Mama Don't Allow" is a traditional American song, a favourite of jug bands, string bands and traditional jazz bands for about a century. This page has the Mama Don't Allow chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose.

Who wrote "Mama Don't Allow"

Nobody is credited with it: the song is traditional and came down through the string bands and jug bands of the American South. It has words, and they are made to be changed — every verse names an instrument that mama doesn't allow to be played in here, and the player of that instrument takes the next solo regardless. That shape made it a natural feature number, with the band going round its members one verse at a time.

Because it is traditional, the song is in the public domain and turns up under several spellings, "Mama Don't Allow It" and "Mama Don't Allow No Music" among them.

Recordings that made it a standard

It was recorded by many string, jug and Dixieland bands from the 1920s on, and it is still a staple of jam sessions and bluegrass and trad-jazz festivals, where each verse hands the tune to the next instrument.