Ah, the rag man draws circles up and down the block
I'd ask him what the matter was, but I know that he don't talk
And the ladies treat me kindly and they furnish me with tape
But deep inside my heart, I know I can't escape

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

Well, Shakespeare, he's in the alley with his pointed shoes and his bells
Speaking to some French girl who says she knows me well
And I would send a message to find out if she's talked
But the post office has been stolen and the mailbox is locked

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

Mona tried to tell me to stay away from the train line
She said that all the railroad men just drink up your blood like wine
And I said, "Oh, I didn't know that, but then again, there's only one I've met
And he just smoked my eyelids and punched my cigarette"

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?
Grandpa died last week and now he's buried in the rocks
But everybody still talks about how badly they were shocked
But me, I expected it to happen, I knew he'd lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street and shot it full of holes

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

Now the senator came down here, showing everyone his gun
Handing out free tickets to the wedding of his son
And me, I nearly got busted, and wouldn't it be my luck
To get caught without a ticket and be discovered beneath a truck?

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

Now the teen preacher looked so baffled when I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines stapled to his chest
But he cursed me when I proved to him, then I whispered, said "Not even you can hide
You see, you're just like me, I hope you're satisfied"

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?
Now the rain man gave me two cures, then he said, "Jump right in"
The one was Texas medicine, the other was just railroad gin
And like a fool, I mixed them, and it strangled up my mind
And now people just get uglier, and I have no sense of time

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

When Ruthie says come see her in honky-tonk lagoon
Where I can watch her waltz for free 'neath her Panamanian moon
And I say, "Ah, come on now, you know about my debutante"
And she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need, but I know what you want"

Oh, mama
Can this really be the end?
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?

Now the bricks lay on Grand Street where the neon madmen climb
They all fall there so perfectly, it all seems so well-timed
And here I sit so patiently, waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of going through all these things twice

Oh, mama
Is this really the end?
To be stuck here inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again?