Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again - Alternate Take

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