Oh, the ragman 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 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 When I speed 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 ev’ryone 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 be the end To be stuck inside of Mobile With the Memphis blues again Now the tea 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 And when Ruthie says come see her In her honky-tonk lagoon Where I can watch her waltz for free ’neath her Panamanian moon An’ I say, “Aw come on now You know you knew about my debutante” An’ 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 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, can this really be the end To be stuck inside of Mobile With the Memphis blues again