Oh, the ragman draws circles   Up and down the block   I'd ask him what the matter was   But I know, he don't talk      And the ladies treat him kindly   And furnish him with tape   But deep inside his heart   I know he 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 him 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      An' I said, "Oh, I didn't know that   But then again there's only one I've met   An' he just smoked my eyelids   An' 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   Rebuilt 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      The senator came down here   Showing everyone his gun   Handing out free tickets   To the wedding of his son      An' me, I nearly got busted   An' wouldn't it be my luck   To get caught without a ticket   And be discovered beneath a truck?      Oh, mama   Is this really the end?   To be stuck inside of mobile   With the Memphis blues again      Now, the T-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 it to him   Then I whispered and 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 Rainman gave me two cures   Then he said, "Jump right in"   The one was Texas medicine   The other was just railroad gin      An' like a fool I mixed them   An' it strangled up my mind   An' now people just get uglier   An' 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 her honky-tonk lagoon   Where he can watch her waltz for free   'Neath her Panamanian moon      An' he say, "Aw, come on now   You know you know about my debutante"   An' she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need   But I know what you really 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      An' 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 inside of mobile   With the Memphis blues again