Now I'm goin' down South and I'm stayin' 'til winter is gone
And when wintertime is gone, I might come back home

Now I get up every mornin' and I walk up to 3rd and Beale (2)
And I'm just studyin' and I'm wonderin', Lord, just how to make a meal

Now the peoples in Memphis, they all walkin' the streets up and down (2)
And you know the time is hard, peoples is starvin' all over the town

Now I once have been a lover, baby, back in my young days (2)
But my baby was so mean, she done drove all my love away

Now I got a girl in Brownsville, she lives down on Burlison Lane (2)
But my gal was so mean, I'm scared to call her name