|: 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.