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 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 ev'ryone his gun Handing out free tickets To the wedding of his son And me I nearly get bursted And 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 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 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 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 her honky-tonk lagoon Where I can watch her waltz for free 'Neath her Panamanian moon And I say Aw come on now You know 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 inside of Mobile With the Memphis blues again