Tie Your Mother Down

Album: A Day At The Races (1976)
Charted: 31 49
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  • Ooh, ooh yeah, ooooh yeah
    Get your party gown
    Get your pigtail down
    Get your heart beatin' baby
    Got my timin' right
    Got my act all tight
    It's gotta be tonight my little
    School babe

    Your Mamma says you don't
    Your Daddy says you won't
    And I'm boilin' up inside
    Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time, oh no

    Tie your mother down
    Tie your mother down
    Lock your daddy out of doors
    I don't need him nosin' around
    Tie your mother down
    Tie your mother down
    Give me all your love tonight

    You're such a dirty louse
    Go get outta my house
    That's all I ever get from your
    Family ties, in fact I don't think I ever heard
    A single little civil word from those guys
    But you know I don't give a light
    I'm gonna make out all right
    I've got a sweetheart hand
    To put a stop to all that
    Snipin' an' grousin' goin' on all night

    Tie your mother down
    Tie your mother down
    Take your little brother swimmin'
    With a brick (that's all right)
    Tie your mother down - yeah yeah
    Tie your mother down
    Or you ain't no friend of mine, ooh no friend of mine
    No no, ow, yeah, bad guy

    Ooh, your Mammy and your Daddy gonna
    Plague me till I die
    They can't understand it, I'm just a
    Peace lovin' guy

    Ooh, tie your mother down
    Tie your mother down
    Get that big big big big big big daddy out of doors
    Tie your mother down - yeah
    Tie your mother down
    Give me all your love tonight
    All your love tonight

    Give me every inch of your love - ooh
    All your love tonight
    Yeah, gotta get my timin' right hey
    Ooh, all your love
    Tie your mother down Writer/s: Brian May
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 29

  • Anonymous from UkBrian May himself said the title is nonsense. They were the only words he could think of to fit, and Freddie persuaded him to keep them. So "Tie Your Mother Down" is totally meaningless.
  • The Colonel from North CarolinaSome mothers want to be tied down!
  • Bridget from CoIt looks like this could be about bad relationship with May's parents. I wouldn't be surprised if it was true, seeing as Queen always writes about stuff like this. (Fat Bottomed Girls)!
  • George Pope from Vancouver, CanadaThe lyrics make it clear what the song is about -- the singer is seeking a hot time with a schoolgirl (this was fine in the '70s, for lyrics) but her mother & father stood in the way, so "tie your mother down" & "Lock your daddy out of doors"; & he doesn't need them nosing around while she gives him all her love tonight.
  • Tim from ChicagoI have to crank the volume up really high every time I hear this song !! The guitar rifts are pure enjoyment !! But the lyrics must be about Brian, or somebody, trying to have sex with an underage girl, and keeping her parents from stopping It. This song might have been banned from radio play 10 years earlier.
  • Kc from YorkshireGreat song. One of Queen's finest. Turns out it was inspired by the song Morning Sun by a band called Taste. Have a listen to Morning Sun and you can tell it played a part in May writing Tie Your Mother Down.
  • Dave from The Midlands, EnglandThe second verse was wrote about the band Hustler who supported them on the Sheer Heart Attack tour. Apparently they weren't very nice people to tour with. Hustler had a single out at the time called "Get Outta My House" and this song is referenced in the lyrics.
    You're such a dirty louse
    Go get outta my house
    That's all I ever get from your
    Family ties, in fact I don't think I ever heard
    A single little civil word from those guys
  • Nichole from CaliforniaMom? Try Melinda, darling!
  • Luke from Manchester, UkDee - Indianapolis: This song sounds a little like Smokin' by Boston.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 19th 1977, a video of Queen performing "Tie Your Mother Down" was aired on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    Three weeks later on March 13th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; eventually it peaked at #49 and spent 6 weeks on the Top 100...
    Their next charted U.S. release , "We Are The Champions" b/w "We Will Rock You", would
    reached #4 on the Top 100...
    R.I.P. Mr. Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, (1946 - 1991).
  • J from Eat Me, AlClearly, Brian is talking about interactions with puritanical parents while he's still advocating the issue with the object of his affection.

    "Your Momma says you dont
    And your daddy says you won't
    And I'm burnin' up inside
    Ain't no way I'm gonna lose out this time"

    He then goes on to express that even though his primitive side is desirous, he's still a good guy.

    "Your mommy and your daddy
    Gonna plague me till I die
    They can't understand it
    I'm just a peace lovin' guy"

    Having grown up in a similar environment it is most understood.
  • Jessie Steele from Bartlett, TnAww por roger.I looked at the vid,and at thirteen seconds you can see Freddie glance at the back of the stage.
    this is a great song,very fun and fast
  • Nikki from Perth, AustraliaBrian wrote "Tie Your Mother Down" long before Queen ever got started. He'd been up all night in an observatory watching the stars and was too wired to sleep. He says he has no idea where the line came from, it just popped into his head. He was going to change it because he thought it was silly, but Freddie told him not to because "it reminds me of something that happened once, darling."
  • Johnny from Los Angeles, CaI was always looking for a meaning to this song... I have it on the Queen Rocks it sounds great... although it also appears on Classic Queen.
  • Wayne from Port Neches, TxThe album titles "A day at the Races" and "A Night at the Opera" were also titles to two Groucho Marx films.
  • Jonathon from Clermont, FlOkay, now the album version has the "White Man" riff and a Shepard tone as an album into, which are not actually part of the song, and "Teo Torriatte" has the Shepard tone to close the album. The singles for both songs, of which "Teo Torriatte" was a Japan-only release, match the ones on greatest hits.
  • Billy from Otway, OhNot sure if it's true or not,but i heard that this was on the soundtrack for the Super Mario Brothers movie.
  • Jeanette from Irvine, Cawow where did you hear that jake? haha...thats very...freddie mercury.
  • Jake from Newport, NhBrian was going to change the lyrics "Tie Your Mother Down" to something else, but Freddie came along and said "No, no, it sounds great. Plus it reminds me of something that happened once", and Brian refused to ask what it was that happened.
  • Freddie from Orlando, Fl"take your little brother swimmin with a brick- thats alright" the little boy is swimming with a brick-- and hence the brick will make him heavy and drag him so he will sink and drown and get out of the way so that they can go shag. its just some little thing, but I'm not misunderstanding it, actually.
  • Nathan from Defiance, OhDrown them? I think Brian just meant he was horny and wanted some sex ASAP. I think this song is slightly misunderstood, a pretty common predicament in rock music.
  • Dee from Indianapolis, InAnother song that draws controversay. Why can't people just listen to the music and not read into it so much all the time? I'm not sure this sounds like Boston at all though, and I'm a huge Boston fan and know my Queen as well.
  • Freddie from Orlando, Fl"alone time".... haha. which is a pleasnet way of saying: TIE UP YOUR FAMILY! LOCK EM UP OR DROWN EM..... WHATEVER! Just gimme ALL YOUR LOVE TONIGHT!!!!!!
  • Randall from Birmingham, Englandi aslo recommend the albums instead of greatest hits as greatest hits tends to cut some songs down
  • Kevin from Bridgeport, CtThis song can be found on their 5th release, A Day at the Races. I strongly recommend the albums instead of the Greatest Hits Complitaions.

    This song is actually about a man who is frustrated with his lover's family because he wants to have some alone time with her.
  • Alf from New York, Nythis kinda sounds like boston
  • Glenn from Mildenhall, EnglandI had one CD that had the "White Man"-esque intro as a separate track from the actual song, meaning that, although listed first on "A Day at the Races," it was track two. Newer releases seem to have made it all one track.
  • Mel from Hokitika, New ZealandThankfully it appears on the 'Queen Rocks' album.
  • Tom from Trowbridge, EnglandSurprisingly, this doesn't appear on Queen's Greatest Hits album!
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