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