''Don't Call Me Mama Anymore'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

recorded by

Cass Elliot Ellen Naomi Cohen (September 19, 1941 – July 29, 1974), known professionally as Mama Cass and later on as Cass Elliot, was an American singer and voice actress. She was a member of the singing group the Mamas & the Papas. After the group brok ...

. It was the third album she released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and the last album released before her death.

Conception

After the disappointment with her first two albums for RCA, Elliot felt that it was time for her to make some changes with her musical career. She hired

Allan Carr Allan Carr (born Allan Solomon; May 27, 1937 – June 29, 1999) was an American producer and manager of stage for the screen. Carr was nominated for numerous awards, winning a Tony Award and two People's Choice Awards, and was named Producer o ...

as her manager who at the time managed the careers of

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret. She is known for her roles in ''Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), ''B ...

and

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

. Carr felt that Elliot needed to leave pop and

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

altogether and head into the

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

circuit. So a show was put together that consisted of old standards along with a few new songs written for her by friends. The act included Elliot along with two male singers who served as backing singers and sidekicks during the musical numbers. The title of the show, ''Don't Call Me Mama Anymore'', was named after one of the songs written by Elliot's friend, Walter Earl Brown. The song was born out of Elliot's frustration with being identified as "Mama Cass". After the show debuted on February 9, 1973 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Elliot felt she was ready to take the show to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

and premiered at

The Flamingo Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3, ...

. Elliot received rave reviews and took the place by storm. '' The Las Vegas Sun'' wrote, "Cass Elliot, making a strong point that she is no longer Mama Cass, has a good act serving notice that she is here to stay. The audience was with her all the way... no empty seats anywhere." She then followed up her act in

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s and tony nightclubs in cities throughout the country. With the success of the show, Carr suggested that Elliot record a live album of the show. The idea of recording a live album was not something she was particularly keen on doing having told Chet Dowling, the show's scriptwriter, "I think there's nothing more boring than a live album." The idea was also hatched to release the album simultaneously with her television special that September.

Album

The album was recorded live over a series of nights at the famed

Mister Kelly's Mister Kelly’s was a nightclub on Rush Street in Chicago which existed from 1953 to 1975. From around 1956 until its demise, it was a springboard to fame for many entertainers, especially jazz singers and comedians. As reported in the ''Chicago ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The album included "Extraordinary" from the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

play ''

Pippin Pippin or Pepin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Pippin (comics), ''Pippin'' (comics), a children's comic produced from 1966 to 1986 * Pippin (musical), ''Pippin'' (musical), a Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz loosely based on the life ...

'', " My Love" written by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and Elliot's rendition of the classic " I'll Be Seeing You". Among the other songs introduced by the album was the title song written by her friend Walter Earl Brown along with "I'm Coming to the Best Part of My Life" written by friends Roger Nichols and

John Bettis John Gregory Bettis (born October 24, 1946) is an American lyricist. He was originally part of the band Spectrum, which also featured Richard and Karen Carpenter. He wrote the lyrics for " Top of the World", a hit for both Lynn Anderson and Th ...

. The song captured Elliot's newfound confidence and was performed for

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six Pr ...

when she sang it on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'' on September 27, 1973. Another popular number at the shows was "The Night Before" which for composer

Al Kasha Alfred Kasha (January 22, 1937 – September 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, whose songs include " The Morning After" from '' The Poseidon Adventure''. Life Kasha started songwriting and producing at a young age and was hired as a producer ...

was the reason he wrote " The Morning After", his

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning theme for '' The Poseidon Adventure''.

Reception

It turned out to be the last new album Elliot released during her lifetime. Despite the success of the shows, the album, as with Elliot's two previous albums, was not a hit. No

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

were released, although a studio version of "I Think A Lot About You" had been released as a single earlier in the year, backed with "Listen To the World". The album was re-released by BMG in November 2000 with three bonus tracks: "Theme From L'Amour", "I Think A Lot About You (Studio Version)" and "Listen To The World". Several songs from the album appeared on the 1997 compilation CD ''Dream a Little Dream: The Cass Elliot Collection'' and "I'm Coming to the Best Part of My Life" was included on the 2005 compilation CD ''Dream a Little Dream of Me: The Music of 'Mama' Cass Elliot''.

Track listing

# "Introduction:

Dream a Little Dream of Me "Dream a Little Dream of Me" is a 1931 song with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill. ...

/Extraordinary" (

Fabian Andre Fabian Andre (January 8, 1910 – March 30, 1960) was an American composer, best known for co-writing the music of " Dream a Little Dream of Me" with Wilbur Schwandt in 1931. Popular in its time, the song was revived in 1968 when covered by the M ...

, Gus Kahn,

Wilbur Schwandt Wilbur Clyde Schwandt (June 28, 1904 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin – July 23, 1998 in Miami, Florida) was an American musician best known for his song "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with Fabian Andre. He frequently used the stage name Don Swan and releas ...

Stephen Schwartz Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as ''Godspell'' (1971), ''Pippin'' (1972), and ''Wicked'' (20 ...

) – 2:38 # "I Think a Lot About You" (

Margo Guryan Margo Guryan (September 20, 1937 – November 8, 2021) was an American songwriter, singer, musician and lyricist. As a songwriter, her work was first recorded in 1958, although it was for her 1960s song " Sunday Mornin'", a hit for both Spanky a ...

) – 2:12 # "Audience Rap" (

) – 2:07 # "Don't Call Me Mama Anymore" (Walter Earl Brown) – 3:10 # " My Love" (

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

) – 3:24 # "I'm Coming to the Best Part of My Life" (John Bettis, Roger Nichols) – 3:53 # "The Torch Song Medley:" (Ahlert, Arlen, Brown, Cromwell, Ellington,

Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II (; July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in the musical theater for almost 40 years. He won eight Ton ...

, Jerome Kern,

Ted Koehler Ted L. Koehler (July 14, 1894 – January 17, 1973) was an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Life and career Koehler was born in 1894 in Washington, D.C. He started out as a photo-engraver, but w ...

, Turk, Warner, Webster-Robbins) – 6:05 ## "I Came Here to Sing a Torch Song" ## "

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" is a popular song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Ted Koehler, published in 1932 for the Broadway show ''Earl Carroll's Vanities'' (1932). The song has become a jazz and blues standard. Popular recordin ...

" ## "

I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" is a pop and jazz standard with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster published in 1941. It was introduced in the musical revue ''Jump for Joy'' by Ivie Anderson, who also provided the v ...

" ## " Mean to Me" ## "

Why Was I Born? "Why Was I Born?" is a 1929 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was written for the show '' Sweet Adeline'' (1929) and introduced by Helen Morgan. Popular recordings in 1930 were by Helen Morgan and by ...

" ## "I Came Here to Sing a Torch Song" (Reprise) # "Audience Rap" (

) – 1:29 # "The Night Before" (

Joel Hirschhorn Joel Hirschhorn (December 18, 1937 – September 17, 2005) was an American songwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song on two occasions. He also wrote songs for a number of musicians, including Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. Hirsc ...

) – 3:14 # "I Like What I Like" (Bruce Wheaton) – 4:02 # " I'll Be Seeing You/Don't Call Me Mama Anymore" (Reprise) (Michael Sklar,

Ben Weisman Benjamin Weisman (November 16, 1921 – May 20, 2007) was an American composer. He wrote 57 songs recorded by Elvis Presley, more than any other songwriter. Biography Weisman was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and grew up in Brooklyn, New Yor ...

) – 3:08

Personnel

*Cass Elliot – Vocals *Michael Kraft – Reissue producer

References

{{Cass Elliot Cass Elliot albums 1973 live albums RCA Records live albums Albums recorded at Mister Kelly's