According to Ernie Santosuosso of The Boston Globe, it describes the way in which a close relationship between a widow and her grown son Teddy boy is destroyed by her new romantic interest.

[8][7] Musicologist and writer Ian MacDonald writes that any attempts at recording the song "were sabotaged by Lennon's continuous burble of parody".

[18] In October 1969, Ernie Santosuosso obtained a version of Johns' Get Back and reviewed it for The Boston Globe, writing of "Teddy Boy" that "'Mama, Don’t Worry, Your Teddy Boy’s Here' offers a persistent repetition of theme larded with square dance calls and deft guitar chord changes.

"[21] As there was no footage of the Beatles playing "Teddy Boy" in the Let It Be film, Johns removed it from his second version of Get Back, replacing it with "Across the Universe" and "I Me Mine".

[22] Although Johns omitted "Teddy Boy" from the LP, Spector, assisted by engineers Peter Brown and Roger Ferris, made two mixes of the song on 25 March 1970.

[28] In his album review for the Chicago Tribune, Robb Baker wrote that "'Teddy Boy' exists only as a bad example of the story song genre that McCartney usually does so well.

"[29] Jared Johnson of The Morning Call said that the Beatles' version as heard on bootlegs had "substance, force and conviction", while "The finished product, though more refined, is shallow and superficial, threatened with fading away into nothingness.