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 fellow named Handy with a band you should hear


And while the folks gently swayed

All them boys began to play in real harmony


I never will forget that tune they call


Handy's Memphis Blues, oh yes, those blues

They've got a trumpet man leading the band


And folks, he sure blow some horn


And when the clarinet seconds to the trombones croon

It moans just like a sinner on Revival Day


That melancholy strain that ever haunting refrain


Is like a morning sorrow song

Here comes the very part that wraps a spell around my heart


It sets me wild to hear that loving tune again, those Memphis Blues