"The Man That Turned My Mama On" is a song written by

Ed Bruce William Edwin Bruce Jr. (December 29, 1939 – January 8, 2021) was an American country music songwriter, singer, and actor. He was known for writing the 1975 song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" and recording the 1982 cou ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

. It was released in June 1974 as the second single from the album ''

Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone) ''Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)'' is the third studio album by American country music singer Tanya Tucker. It was released on February 11, 1974, by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Billy Sherrill and includes Tucker's thir ...

''. The song reached #4 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

Content

The song speaks of the narrator's wish that she could have known more about her father, a traveling salesman who met her mother and quickly married her (the lyrics indicate that the quick marriage was more of an

elopement Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting ma ...

than a

shotgun marriage A shotgun wedding is a wedding which is arranged in order to avoid embarrassment due to premarital sex which can possibly lead to an unintended pregnancy. The phrase is a primarily American colloquialism, termed as such based on a stereotypical ...

, since "Grandma Kate" – the narrator's grandmother who raised her mother to be a proper lady – likely would not have approved of the relationship). Unlike other songs where the father is absent due to abandonment, in this song the father died of illness when she was only five.

Chart performance

Other versions

Songwriter Ed Bruce recorded the song for his own 1978 album "Cowboys and Dreamers"; released as a single, it made number 70 on the country charts.

References

Songs about mothers 1974 singles Tanya Tucker songs Songs written by Ed Bruce Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill Ed Bruce songs Columbia Records singles 1974 songs {{1970s-country-song-stub