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-dancing 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 band folks 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
And folks he sure do pull some bow and when the big Bassoon
Seconds to the Trombones croon, croon,
It moans just like a sinner on Revival Day, on Revival Day.
That melancholy strain, that ever haunting refrain
Is like a darkie’s sorrow song.
Here comes the very part that wraps a spell around my heart.
It sets me wild to hear that loving tune a gain,
The Memphis Blues.