Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again - Live at Meadowlands Arena, October 16, 1989

Well, the ragman draws circles
 Up and down the block
 I'd asked him, "What's the matter?"
 But I know he don't talk
 And the ladies treat me kindly
 And they had furnish me with tape
 But deep inside my heart I know
 I know I can't escape
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Shakespeare, he's in the alley
 With his pointed shoes and bells
 Speaking with some French girl
 Who says she knows me well?
 And me, I would send a message
 To find out if she's talked
 But the post office has been stolen
 Mailbox is locked
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Now Mona, she tried to warn me
 Stay away from the railroad line
 She says 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
 He just smoked my eyelids
 An' he punched my cigarette"
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 My grandpa died last week
 And they buried him in the rocks
 Everyone still talks about
 How badly they are shocked
 But me, I expected it to happen
 I knew he'd lost control
 When he built a fire on Main Street
 And he shot it full of holes
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Now the senator, he came down here
 Showing everyone 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
 Be discovered beneath a truck
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Now the preacher looked so baffled
 When I asked him why he had dressed
 With twenty pounds of headlines
 Stapled to his chest
 Then he cursed me when I proved it to him
 Then I said, " You see, not even you can hide
 You see, you're just like me
 And I hope you're satisfied"
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Now the rainman gave me two cures
 And he said, "Jump right in"
 The first was Texas medicine
 The second was just railroad gin
 An' like a fool I mixed them
 And it strangled up my mind
 Now people just get uglier
 An' I have got no sense of time
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a 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 said, "Aw, come on now
 You know, you know about my debutante"
 She says, "You take your time, knows what you need
 But I know what you want"
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Now the bricks, they lay on Grand Street
 Where the neon madmen climb
 They all fall there so perfectly
 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 of these things twice
 Oh, oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?
 Oh Mama, can this really be the end
 To be stuck inside a Mobile
 With the Memphis blues again?