Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again - Bob Dylan

Ah, the rag man 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

And I said, "Oh, I didn't know that, but then again, there's only one I've met

And he just smoked my eyelids and 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 everyone his gun

Handing out free tickets to the wedding of his son

And me, I nearly got busted, and 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 teen 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 to him, then I whispered, 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 rain man gave me two cures, then he said, "Jump right in"

The one was Texas medicine, the other was just railroad gin

And like a fool, I mixed them, and it strangled up my mind

And now people just get uglier, and 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 honky-tonk lagoon

Where I can watch her waltz for free 'neath her Panamanian moon

And I say, "Ah, come on now, you know about my debutante"

And 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

And 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

Is this really the end?

To be stuck here inside of Mobile

With the Memphis blues again?