The comment that nobody seems to know who wrote "Mama Don't Allow"
raised my curiosity.  I thought that it would be pretty easy to find it on
the Internet.  I was wrong.  It took me a couple of hours and even then
the information was very sparse, and the answers are rather surprising.
I have not been able to verify what I found out, but here it is for
what it is worth.

According to Paul Doell in a February, 2003 Swampland.com article
entitled Ace Moreland: A Remembrance, the song was written by a black
song writer named Jesse Stone who wrote a number of rock and blues
songs including "Shake, Rattle and Roll".  Supposedly, he wrote "Mama
Don't Allow" for Gene Autry who had a radio program called National Barn
Dance that was on radio from 1920-something until after 1950.

One of the members of the Autry band was Smiley Burnette who sang the
song.  Burnette played many instruments and wrote some songs although
he did not read music.  In 1934 the Autry band got a job in a really
terrible Ken Maynard movie called "In Old Santa Fe".  Autry sang at
least one song, mostly off key, and Burnette sang "Mama Don't Allow"
and played all the instrument parts himself.  Neither got any credit in
the movie and, after seeing it, they were probably glad they didn't.

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame says that Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport
wrote it.

Kip Williams' sheet music with the title "Mama Don't Like Music" is
interesting for a couple of things.  It has a copyright date of 1935.
However, the movie "In Old Santa Fe" came out in 1934 and Burnette was
singing it before that so the song was around well before the 1935
copyright date.

Did Autry and Burnette usurp the authorship of the song from Jesse
Stone?  I suspect that that could happen to a black songwriter in the
1930s.  Or, is it possible to buy the right to claim authorship?

Was the mysterious change of title to "Mama Don't Like Music" a means
for Autry and Burnette to claim that they originated it?

Why does a song that has been performed by so many famous personalities
over the years have such a dearth of information on its origin?

Dave Geissinger

 [ A new copyright may be granted as long as there is a different
 [ lyric.  The melody of "Mama Don't Allow" sounds to me like a New
 [ Orleans street tune, probably originally with vulgar lyrics.
 [ -- Editor (Robbie)