Loggins and Messina – Your Mama Don’t Dance

“Your Mama Don’t Dance” – Single by Loggins and Messina from the album Loggins and Messina
B-side: “Golden Ribbons”
Released: November 1972
Recorded: 1972
Studio: Columbia (Los Angeles)
Label: Columbia
Songwriters: Kenny Loggins, Jim Messina
Producers: Kenny Loggins, Jim Messina

Loggins and Messina performed on the Midnight Special show, December 14th 1973.

The song “Your Mama Don’t Dance” is probably the most popular Loggins and Messina song ever released. It was the duo’s highest-charting song of their career. It hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was released on their second album entitled Loggins and Messina. The album was released in 1972.

This song is a homage to the teenage rebellion songs of the ’50s. It’s about a kid whose parents are on the conservative side, much to his dismay (that 10 p.m. curfew is pretty tight). One night, he parks in the shadows at the drive-in movie with his date, but gets a visit from a cop, who takes him in. Seems he’s doomed to be home at night when everyone else is out having fun, and it’s all because his mama don’t dance and his daddy don’t rock and roll.

The voice of the cop who orders, “Out of the car, longhair,” is Merel Bregante, who played drums in their band. Michael Omartian, who later became a top producer, played the boogie-woogie piano.