Oh the rag-man draws c ircles Up and down the bl ock.
I'd ask him what the matter was Bu t I know that he don't talk.
And the la dies treat me ki ndly And fu rnish me with t ape
But deep inside my hea rt I k now I can't esc ape
[Refrain :]
Oh Mama, Can this really be the end ?
To be s tuck ins ide of Mob ile, wi th the Me mphis blues aga in ?
Well, Shakespeare, he's in the alle y With his po inted shoes and his b ells.
Spea king to a French girl, Who say s she knows me we ll.
And I woul d send a message To find ou t if she's talk ed,
But the post office has be en stolen And the mail box is locked.
[Refrain]
Mona tried to tell me To st ay far away from the railroad line.
She said that all the railroad men Drink your blood like wine.
An'I said "Oh, I didn't kno w that But then again there's only one I've me
An'h e just smoked my ey elids An'punc hed my cigarett e"
[Refrain]
Grandpa died last wee k And now he 's buried in the rock
But everybody tal k about How b adly they were shoc ked.
But me I e xpected it to ha ppen I knew he'd lost cont rol
When he built a fire o n main street A nd shot it full of h oles.
[Refrain]
Now the senator came down here Show ing everyone his gun.
Hand ing out free tic kets To the wedding of his son .
An'me I ne arly got busted An wouldn't it be my luck
To g et Caught without a ticket And be discovered beneath a t ruck
[Refrain]
Now the preacher look ed so baffled When I asked him why he dr essed
With twenty pounds of headlines St apled to his ch est
But he cur sed when I prove d to him Then I whispered not even you can hi de.
You see you're just li ke me I hope your satis fied
[Refrain]
Now the rainman gave me two cures The n he said "Jump right in"
The one was Texas med icine The other railroad g in.
An like a fool I mixed the m An'it str angled up my mi nd
An'n ow people just get uglier An' I have no sense of t ime.
[Refrain]
When Ruthie says come see her In her honkey-tonk lagoon,
Wher e I can watch her waltz for free 'Neath her Panamanian moon.
An'I say, "Aw come on now You must kn ow about my deb utante."
An's he says, "Your deb utante knows just what you need
But I know what you want."
[Refrain]
Now the bricks lay on Grand Street Wh ere the neon madmen c limb
They all fall there s o perfectly. It all seems so well ti med.
An'here I sit so patiently Waiting to f ind out what pr ice
You have to pay to get out of Goi ng through all these thing s twice
[Refrain]