Saturday, April 18, 2015

Stuck inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again - by Bob Dylan (cove...









-- In typical surrealistic beatnik protest fashion,  Bob writes about a sojourn in the sultry Mobile, where the situation gets progressively worse with each verse until the utmost in surreal terror comes at the last verse, "... having to go through all these things twice".  Cover by me, paulhallart.



lyrics:



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 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 ev'ryone his gun

Handing out free tickets

To the wedding of his son

And me, I nearly get bursted

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 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, "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

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 her honky-tonk lagoon

Where I can watch her waltz for free

'Neath her Panamanian moon

And I say, "Aw come on now

You know 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 inside of Mobile

With the Memphis blues again.

No comments:

Post a Comment