The Memphis Blues

(album: St. Louis Blues - 1958)

Folks, I've just been down
Down to Memphis town
That's where the people smile
Smile on you all the while
Hospitality
They were good to me
I couldn't spend a dime
And had the grandest time

I went out a-dancing with a Tennessee dear
They had a fella there named Handy
With a band you should hear

And while the dancers gently swayed
All the band boys played
Real harmony
I never will forget
The tune that Handy called the Memphis Blues

They got a fiddler there
That always slickens his hair
And folks, he sure does pull some bow
And when the big bassoon
Seconds to the trombones croon
It moans just like a sinner on revival day

Hear me people, hear me people, hear me I pray
I'm gonna take a million lessons 'til I learn how to play
Because I seem to hear it yet
Simply can't forget that blues refrain
There's nothing like the Handy band
That played the Memphis blues so grand

That melancholy strain
Ever haunting refrain
Is like a morning sorrow song
Here comes the very part
That wraps it's spell around my heart

I can't forget the tune
That Handy called the Memphis Blues
I can't forget the tune
That Handy called the Memphis Blues