"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"

A poetic masterpiece by Dylan. A Flannery O'Connor Novella in the a song.


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.

 

One of the best from 'Blonde On Blonde'!

 

It's another one of Mr Dylan's which makes me wonder what was going on in his head when he sat down and wrote it. Genius.

For something more "earthly" but just as clever lyrically and easier to understand, at least on the surface, I think "Black Diamond Bay" from "Desire" is also great.

 

Dylan certainly had his finger on the pulse in 1966.
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands is another great song.

 

Dylan for Prez........

 

It goes like this: A, A7, D, Dmin, A, E, A, D, A, E repeat

Well a hobo got too hi----igh,
He came to me naturaleeeee . . .

He Stole my baby,
now he's trying to steal meeeee . . .

 

I just love this song!

 

What do you reckon these lyrics mean ?

 

Only Dylan could have written this song.

 

Hey Tone!

For my own amusement I've been recording a cover version of It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry.

Love Mr. Zimmerman!

Bobby Sutliff

 

I Guess You Had To Be There

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​

Clear as glass to me.

 

Errr . . . something about stardom???

 

The wheel is turning and you can't slow down

Everything about ego.

Witnessing ego's rise and fall and rise and fall, and wondering if he'll ever get off the wheel.

 

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/108651/

 

Blonde on Blonde may be my favorite album of all time. One home run after another.

 

I have read that the verse about smoke my eyelids and punch my cigarette is a literal reference to Dylan's manager Albert Grossman, who had a habit of holding a cigarette in his hand and punching it toward you in the air next to his head, as he talked. Dylan's dissatisfaction with Grossman has been written about often, and the reference to "drink up your blood like wine" and "smoke my eyelids" is supposed to refer to Grossman tricking and cheating Dylan.

I find the lines "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" to be an apt description of an anxious LSD trip.

The TV preacher verse was such a great prophecy of what we became innundated with in the evangelical preacher era.

I love the verse:

"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"

I have thought of this verse during the times in which I had to decide what to do about relationships, jobs, etc., which had painful moments--do you repeat the pain again and again because it is just a necessary part of he situation and you have to live with it, or do you end the situation--but then what significant negative consequences will come from that? Anyway, that is what the verse says to me.

The verse about Grandpa, and what he did on Main Street, reminds me of my own grandfather and the things he would do when we tried to keep him at home in the 1960s, when he was suffering from Alzheimer's--it was before there were so many assisted living homes. He never built a fire or shot a gun, but he did some unusual things.

 

True dat.

 

Except that the line about the railroad men drinking your blood like wine is a direct quote from the folk song "I Wish I Was A Mole In A Hole". Maybe that one was about Grossman too.

Besides, if Bob was mad at Albert at the time of "Blonde On Blonde", why did he put Albert's picture in the inside cover spread? I think much of Dylan's dissatisfaction with Grossman came after "Blonde On Blonde".

 

Little typo:

Should be "An’ me, I nearly got busted", not bursted.

Anyone know what this means?:

"And furnish me with tape"

 

Love this song, a real gem.

 

I have no idea what the song means, but a long time ago, I had a summer high school job scooping ice cream cones at a local drug store. While making one of my creations for a customer, a kid's voice sang out from the vicinity of the cash register aisles...."Ohhh, maama...." almost exactly like the record (except in kid's voice). It was uncanny. I had to do a double-take.

 

So many great lines in this song.
These always make me a smile and remind me of my teen drinking exploits:

The one was Texas medicine
The other was just railroad gin
And like a fool I mixed them

 

Awesome Bobby ........ I want to hear it!

I really love the sound of Dylan's band on this cut.

 

the fear and loathing in las vegas song...its pretty awesome.

 

"Pledging My Time" also borrows a lot from Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen".
It doesn't take away anything from Dylan's songwriting but rather by cementing his work to the great American blues tradition Dylan makes it more authentic or meaningful or whatever you want to call it.
Johnson and other blues artists borrowed lines pretty freely from each other also.