Music video by Simian Mobile Disco performing Hustler
with Saam Farahmand, Saam Farahmand
(C) 2007 Interscope Records

ERLANDSON

Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block.
I’d ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don’t talk.
And the ladies treat me kindly
And furnish me with tape,
But deep inside my heart
I know I can’t escape.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Well, Shakespeare, he’s in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells,
Speaking to some French girl,
Who says she knows me well.
And I would send a message
To find out if she’s talked,
But the post office has been stolen
And the mailbox is locked.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Mona tried to tell me
To stay away from the train line.
She said that all the railroad men
Just drink up your blood like wine.
An’ I said, “Oh, I didn’t know that,
But then again, there’s only one I’ve met
An’ he just smoked my eyelids
An’ punched my cigarette.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Grandpa died last week
And now he’s buried in the rocks,
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked.
But me, I expected it to happen,
I knew he’d lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street
And shot it full of holes.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the senator came down here
Showing ev’ryone his gun,
Handing out free tickets
To the wedding of his son.
An’ me, I nearly got busted
An’ wouldn’t it be my luck
To get caught without a ticket
And be discovered beneath a truck.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the preacher looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest.
But he cursed me when I proved it to him,
Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide.
You see, you’re just like me,
I hope you’re satisfied.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the rainman gave me two cures,
Then he said, “Jump right in.”
The one was Texas medicine,
The other was just railroad gin.
An’ like a fool I mixed them
An’ it strangled up my mind,
An’ now people just get uglier
An’ I have no sense of time.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon,
Where I can watch her waltz for free
‘Neath her Panamanian moon.
An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
You must know about my debutante.”
An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want.”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

Now the bricks lay on Grand Street
Where the neon madmen climb.
They all fall there so perfectly,
It all seems so well timed.
An’ here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice.
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end,
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.

CALLENDER

Caruso singing La Donna e Mobile from Verdi’s Rigoletto for Victor in 1907. The correct playing speed is 75 rpm which I did not know when I uploaded this record. I played it at 78.26 rpm. Some of Caruso’s earlier records played at much slower speeds and I have adjusted those postings accordingly.

WOLFRAM

The “king” Luciano Pavarotti as Il Duca di Mantova in the screen movie Rigoletto (1983) based on Giuseppe Verdi’s opera with the same name (1851).

La Donna È Mobile - Giuseppe Verdi

La donna è mobile
Qual piuma al vento
Muta d’accento
E di pensiero

Sempre un’amabile
Leggiadro viso
In pianto o in riso
È menzognero

La donna è mobil
Qual piuma al vento
Muta d’accento
E di pensier
E di pensier
E di pensier

È sempre misero
Chi a lei s’affida
Chi le confida
Mal cauto il core

Pur mai non sentesi
Felice appieno
Chi su quel seno
Non liba amore

La donna è mobil
Qual piuma al vento
Muta d’accento
E di pensier
E di pensier
E di pensier…

LIVESEY

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - BBC Broadcast ‘89

WAHLSTROM

Avril Lavignes Mobile

BRINDLE

Video for the 3rd single from the album Attack Decay Sustain Release. This is the new video for Hustler. The old one can be seen on this site as well. That’s to say if you’re 18 years or older.

IRION

with lyrics

GEMMELL

This is a video for the Jars of Clay song, “Dead Man (Carry Me)”. Filmed only with cell phone cameras, this video was shot in November of 2006.

TIMPE

Music video by Simian Mobile Disco performing I Believe
with Romain Gavras, Mourad Balkeddar
(C) 2007 Interscope Records

BOWLBY