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.
|
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 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.
|
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, can this really be 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.
|
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 I can watch her waltz for free
|
'Neath her Panamanian moon.
|
An' I say, "Aw come on now,
|
You must know 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.
|
|
-----------------
|
Stuck Inside Of Mobil With The Memphis Blues Again
|
| Bob Dylan |
