Put on my blue suede shoes and I Boarded the plane Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues In the middle of the pouring rain W.C. Handy Won't you look down over me Yeah, I got a first class ticket But I'm as blue as a boy can be
Then I'm walking in Memphis Walking with my ten feet off of Beale Walking in Memphis But do I really feel the way I feel
I saw the ghost of Elvis On Union Avenue Followed him up to the gates of Graceland Then I watched him walk right through Now, security did not see him They just hovered 'round his tomb There's a pretty little thing Waiting for the King Down in the Jungle Room
Now, Muriel plays piano Every Friday up at Hollywood And they brought me down to see her And they asked me if I would Do a little number And I sang with all my might They said, "Tell me are you a Christian, child?" And I said, "Ma'am, I am tonight!"
"Walking In Memphis" was a hit pop song for singer/songwriter, Marc Cohn (who had mainly been known for his country music, but finally had a pop hit right at a time when the country was ready for a blues/mainly acoustic number during a time when the country was going through a major recession and the promise of the first Iraq War did not live up to it's ending -- in maybe a sort of telling irony, the song's lyrics nearly match the stories that then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton -- who would be elected President of the U.S. about a year after this song was a top ten hit -- was telling about his life in the region of the country sang about in this song and seen in the music video for the song). Cohn also belts this tune out, like nobody's business, leaving you with a feeling as though you will never forget him, and you took the walk around Memphis with him. Upabove I have transcribed the first verse of the tune, the main chorus, the second versed of the tune and the fourth and second to the last verse of the tune. In these lyrics there is shoutouts to Memphis, Tennessee (as with the title of the tune), the (Mississippi) Delta region of the U.S. (where Memphis is located, right in the heart of that region), Union Avenue (a real and famous street in Memphis), Beale Street (another real and famous street in Memphis), Graceland (the Memphis home of Elvis Presley), the famous Jungle Room at Graceland and a real nightclub in Memphis, actually called, Hollywood. So, this song, and the accompanying video in many, many ways was also a tourist guide to the city of Memphis, Tennessee and also serve as an artifact of how that city was back in the early 1990's.
Submitted by: Peter
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through
Graceland, Elvis’ house turned museum in well Memphis
Submitted by: Dayna
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