|: C Csus4 C Csus4 😐

C Am
Oh, the ragman draws circles
C Am
Up and down the block.
C Am
I’d ask him what the matter was
F G
But I know that he don’t talk.
F C
And the ladies treat me kindly
Am C
And furnish me with tape,
Am C
But deep inside my heart
F C
I know I can’t escape.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Well, Shakespeare, he’s in the alley
C Am
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
C Am
Speaking to some French girl,
F G
Who says she knows me well.
F C
And I would send a message
Am C
To find out if she’s talked,
Am C
But the post office has been stolen
F C
And the mailbox is locked.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Mona tried to tell me
C Am
To stay away from the train line.
C Am
She said that all the railroad men
F G
Just drink up your blood like wine.
F C
An’ I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that,
Am C
But then again, there’s only one I’ve met
Am C
An’ he just smoked my eyelids
F C
An’ punched my cigarette.”
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Grandpa died last week
C Am
And now he’s buried in the rocks,
C Am
But everybody still talks about
F G
How badly they were shocked.
F C
But me, I expected it to happen,
Am C
I knew he’d lost control
Am C
When he built a fire on Main Street
F C
And shot it full of holes.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Now the senator came down here
C Am
Showing ev’ryone his gun,
C Am
Handing out free tickets
F G
To the wedding of his son.
F C
An’ me, I nearly got busted
Am C
An’ wouldn’t it be my luck
Am C
To get caught without a ticket
F C
And be discovered beneath a truck.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Now the preacher looked so baffled
C Am
When I asked him why he dressed
C Am
With twenty pounds of headlines
F G
Stapled to his chest.
F C
But he cursed me when I proved it to him,
Am C
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide.
Am C
You see, you’re just like me,
F C
I hope you’re satisfied.”
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Now the rainman gave me two cures,
C Am
Then he said, “Jump right in.”
C Am
The one was Texas medicine,
F G
The other was just railroad gin.
F C
An’ like a fool I mixed them
Am C
An’ it strangled up my mind,
Am C
An’ now people just get uglier
F C
An’ I have no sense of time.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
When Ruthie says come see her
C Am
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
C Am
Where I can watch her waltz for free
F G
‘Neath her Panamanian moon.
F C
An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
Am C
You must know about my debutante.”
Am C
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
F C
But I know what you want.”
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

C Am
Now the bricks lay on Grand Street
C Am
Where the neon madmen climb.
C Am
They all fall there so perfectly,
F G
It all seems so well timed.
F C
An’ here I sit so patiently
Am C
Waiting to find out what price
Am C
You have to pay to get out of
F C
Going through all these things twice.
Em
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
C G F
To be stuck inside of Mobile
C G11 C
With the Memphis blues again.

A D E7 A
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet?
D E7 A
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
E A
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
D A
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
D A
In this room the heat pipes just cough
D
The country music station plays soft
A E7
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
A D E7 A
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
D A E7 A D A
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind.

A D E7 A
In the empty lot where the ladies play blind man’s bluff with the key chain
D E7 A
And the allnight girls, they whisper of escapades out on the “D” train
E
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
A
Ask himself if it’s him or them that’s realy insane
D A
Louise, she’s allright, she’s just near
D A
She’s delicate and seems like the mirror
D
But she just makes it all too concice and too clear
A E7
That Johanna’s not here
A D E7 A
The ghost of ‘lectricity howls in the bones of her face
D A E7 A D A
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place.

A D E7 A
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
D E7 A
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
E A
And when bringing her name up He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
D A
He’s sure got a lotta gall
D A
to be so useless and all
D
Muttering small talk at the wall
A E7
while I’m in the hall
A D E7 A
How can I explain? Oh, it’s so hard to get on
D A E7 A D A
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn.

A D E7 A
Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
D E7 A
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
E A
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues You can tell by the way she smiles
D A
See the primitive wallflower freeze
D A
When the jellyfaced women all sneeze
D A E7
Hear the one with the mustache say, “Jeeze, I can’t find my knees”
A D E7 A
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
D A E7 A D A
But these visions of Johanna they make it all seem so cruel.

A D E7 A
The peddler now speaks to the countess who’s pretending to care for him

Sayin’ “Name me someone that’s not a parasite
D E7 A
and I’ll go out and say a prayer for him.” But like Louise
E
always says, “Ya can’t look at much, can ya man?” As she, herself, pre
A
-pares for him
D A
And Madonna, she still has not showed
D D
We see this empty cage now corrode
D A
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
D A
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
D A
He writes ev’rything’s been returned which was owed
D A E7
On the back of the fish truck that loads While my conscience explodes
A D E A
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
D A E7 A
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

A D7 A
Well, I see you got your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat
D7 A
Yes, I see you got your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat
E7
Well, you must tell me, baby
A
How your head feels under somethin’ like that
Co7 Bo7 Bbo7 A E7
Under your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

A D7 A
Well, you look so pretty in it, honey, can I jump on it sometime?
D7 A
Yes, I just wanna see if it’s really that expensive kind
E7
You know it balances on your head
A
Just like a mattress balances on a bottle of wine
Co7 Bo7 Bbo7 A E7
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

A D7 A
Well, if you wanna see the sun rise, honey, I know where
D7 A
We’ll go out and see it sometime, we’ll both just sit there and stare
E7
Me with my belt wrapped around my head
A
And you just sittin’ there
Co7 Bo7 Bbo7 A E7
In your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

A D7 A
Well, I asked the doctor if I could see you, it’s bad for your health, he said
D7 A
Yes, I disobeyed his orders, I came to see you but I found him there instead
E7
You know, I don’t mind him cheatin’ on me
A
But I sure wish he’d take that off his head
Co7 Bo7 Bbo7 A E7
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

A D7 A
Well, I see you got a new boyfriend, you know, I never seen him before
D7 A
Well, I saw you makin’ love with him, you forgot to close the garage door
E7
You might think he loves you for your money
A
But I know what he really loves you for
Co7 Bo7 Bbo7 A E7
It’s your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat

Co7: x x 5 0 5 x
Bo7: x x 4 0 4 x
Bbo7: x x 3 0 3 x