by Bob Dylan



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.