Memphis Blues

Folks I've just been down, down to Memphis town George A. Norton W. C. Handy MemphisBluesHoneyBoyEvansMinstrels.jpeg Victor Military Band-The Memphis Blues.ogg

[Verse]
 * 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-dancin' with a Tennessee dear
 * They had a fellow there named Handy with a band you should hear
 * And while the whi' folks gently swayed, all the darkies played real Harmony
 * I never will forget the tune that Handy called the Memphis Blues
 * Oh them Blues

[Chorus]
 * They've got a fiddler there that always slickens his hair
 * An' folks he sure do pull some bow
 * And when the big Bassoon seconds to the Trombones croon
 * It moans just like a sinner on Revival Day, on Revival Day


 * That melancholy strain, that ever haunting refrain
 * Is like a Darkies sorrow song
 * Here comes the very part that wraps a spell around my heart
 * It sets me wild to hear that lovin' tune again
 * The Memphis Blues

[Verse]
 * Oh that melody sure appealed to me
 * Just like a mountain stream rippling on it seemed
 * Then it slowly died, with a gentle sigh
 * Soft as the breeze that whines high in the summer pines


 * Hear me people, hear me people, hear I pray
 * I'm going to take a million lesson's 'til I learn how to play
 * Because I seem to hear it yet, simply can't forget that blue refrain
 * There's nothing like the Handy Band that play'd the Memphis Blues so grand
 * Oh play them Blues


 * (chorus)