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