Memphis Blues
Nat King Cole

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 folks gently swayed, all the band folks played Real harmony.
I never will forget the tune that Handy called the Memphis Blues.
Oh yes, them Blues.

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.
It moans just like a sinner on Revival Day, on Revival Day.

Oh that melody sure appealed to me.
Just like a mountain stream rippling on it seemed.
Then it slowly died, with a gentle sigh
Soft as the breeze that whines high in the summer pines.

Hear me people, hear me people, hear I pray,
I'm going to take a million lesson's 'til I learn how to play
Because I seem to hear it yet, simply can't forget
That blue refrain.

There's nothing like the Handy Band that played the Memphis Blues so grand.
Oh play them Blues.
That melancholy strain, that ever haunting refrain
Is like a sweet old 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.


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Lyrics by Nat King Cole

  A Hymn to Him   Adelita [With Mariachis]   Adelita [With Mariachis]   All by Myself [*]   All of You   Almost Like Being in Love [DVD]   Almost Like Being in Love [Version #2]   Almost Like Being in Love [Version 2]   An Old Piano Plays the Blues   Angel Eyes   Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere   Arriverderci Roma   Arriverderci Roma   Autumn Leaves [Live]   Ballerina [Live]   Barcarolle   Bedtime (Sleep Baby Sleep)   Besame Mucho   Blue and Sentimental   Blue Danube   Blueberry Hill   Blues in the Night   Body and Soul [Instrumental]   Bop-Kick [Instrumental]   Bring Another Drink   Buon Natale (Means Merry Christmas to You)   But Not for Me   By the River Sainte Marie   C Jam Blues   Candy [*]   Caravan [DVD]   Careless Love   Chant of the Blues (Dog-Gone Unlucky Blues)   Cherchez la Femme   Cherie, I Love You   Christmas Song   Crazy Rhythm [DVD]   Crazy Rhythm [Live]   Dance Ballerina Dance   Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup [Live]   Day In, Day Out   Dinner for One, Please, James   Dream a Little Dream of Me   Early American   Early Morning Blues   Every Time I Feel the Spirit   Exactly Like You [*]   For Sentimental Reasons (I Love You)   Friendless Blues   Frivolous Sal (My Gal Sal)   Funny (Not Much) [Live]   Georgia on My Mind   Get Me to the Church on Time   Get Out and Get Under the Moon   God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (English)   Gone With the Draft [#1]   Gone With the Draft [#2]   Hit That Jive, Jack!   Hit That Jive, Jack! [Opening Theme]   Home (When Shadows Fall)   Homeward Bound   Honeysuckle Rose [Instrumental]   How Deep Is the Ocean?   How Does It Feel   How High the Moon   How High the Moon [Instrumental]   How Little We Know [#]   Hymn to Him   I Could Have Danced All Night   I Cried for You   I Dream of You   I Feel So Smoochie   I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten C...   I Found a New Baby   I Got Rhythm   I Just Found Out About Love   I Miss You So   I See Your Face Before Me   I Still See Elisa   I Surrender, Dear [Alternate Take][*]   I Want to Thank You Folks   I Want to Thank Your Folks   I Was a Little Too Lonely (And You Were a Little T...   I Wish I Knew   I Wish You Love [Live]   If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)   If I Had You   If Yesterday Could Only Be Tomorrow   Imagination   In the Good Old Summertime   It All Depends on You   It Was So Good While It Lasted   Jealous Lover   Jet   Joe Turner Blues   Joe Turner Blues [Live]   Just for the Fun of It [Alternate Take]   Just One of Those Things (Piano Solo) [Instrumenta...   Just You, Just Me [DVD]   Just You, Just Me [Instrumental]   Knock Me a Kiss   Liebestraum   Lights Out   Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot   Lonesome Road   Look No Further [From No Strings]   Love Is Here to Stay   Love Letters [Mono Version]   Love Me Tender   Love Nest   Love You Madly   Love You Madly [Live]   Lover, Come Back to Me   Lovewise   Lucky Day   Miss Otis Regrets [Live]   Mona Lisa [DVD]   Mona Lisa [Live]   Mona Lisa [Medley]   Mood Indigo   Moon Love   Moon Song   Moonglow   Morning Star   Mutiny in the Nursery   My Flaming Heart   My Funny Valentine   My Funny Valentine [From the Talented Mr. Ripley]   My Heart Stood Still   My Heart Stood Still [Alternate Take][*]   My Heart Tells Me (Should I Believe My Heart?)   My Kinda Love   My Kinda Love [Live]   My Mother Told Me [*]   My Sugar Is So Refined   My Sugar Is So Refined   Namely You   Namely You   Nature Boy [From Moulin Rouge]   Nice Work If You Can Get It   Oh, Lady Be Good   Old Man Moon   Old Piano Plays the Blues   On the Sidewalks of New York   Orange Colored Sky [From the Majestic]   People [From Funny Girl]   Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Quizas, Quizas, Quizas)   Please Consider Me   Poor Butterfly   Portrait of Jennie   Portrait of Jennie [Mono Version]   Quizás, quizás, quizás   Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Perhaps, Perhaps,...   Repeat After Me   Save the Bones for Henry Jones   Save the Bones for Henry Jones [DVD]   Shoo Shoo Baby   Should I?   Should I? [#]   Silent Night [Instrumental]   Sing You Sinners   Smile [#]   Some Like It Hot   Somebody Loves Me [Live]   Something Makes Me Want to Dance With You   Somewhere Along the Way [DVD]   Stardust [From My Favorite Year]   Stardust [From Sleepless in Seattle]   Stay [*]   Stella by Starlight   Stormy Weather [Nat King Cole with Kay Starr]   Straight up and Fly Right   Sugar Sugar   Summertime   Sunday   Swanee River   Sweet Lorraine [*]   Sweet Lorraine [DVD]   Sweet Sue, Just You   Taking a Chance on Love   Tenderly [DVD]   Thank You Pretty Baby   The Ballad of Cat Ballou [From Cat Ballou]   The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)   The Blue Danube   The Christmas Song [1961]   The Christmas Song [Alternate Take]   The Christmas Song [DVD]   The Continental [Live]   The Hut Sut Song   The Late, Late Show   The Lonesome Road   The Love Nest   The Man I Love   The Man I Love [Instrumental]   The Man I Love [Version 2]   The Old Music Master   The Rain in Spain   The Sand and the Sea [Live]   The Sheik of Araby   The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On)   The Song of Raintree County   The Surrey with the Fringe on Top   The Surrey with the Fringe on Top [Live]   Them There Eyes   There Is No Greater Love   There Is No Greater Love [*]   This Autumn   This Is Always   Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer   Thou Swell [Live]   To the Ends of the Earth [Live]   Too Marvelous for Words [*]   Too Young [#][*]   Toyland   Tres Palabras (Without You)   True Love   Two Loves Have I [*]   Unforgettable [#][*]   Unforgettable [Live]   Vaya Con Dios (May God Be with You)   What Does It Take   What Is This Thing Called Love? [Live]   When I Fall in Love [DVD]   When My Baby Walks Down the Street   When My Sugar Walks Down the Street   Where or When   Where or When [Live]   Who Do You Know in Heaven   Who Do You Know in Heaven (That Made You the Angel...   Wild Goose Chase   Wild Is Love (Finale)   Wine, Women and Song   With a Little Bit of Luck   Work Song   World in My Arms   You Are My First Love   You Are My First Love   You Can Depend on Me [*]   You Can Depend on Me [Alternate Take][#]   You Leave Me Breathless [Live]   You Stepped Out of a Dream [Live]

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