Memphis Blues

by Los Unusual Suspects

	/

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about

Highway 61 and Highway 49 roughly parallel the Mississippi River, criss-crossing through the Delta. This is a song about a mysterious phone call that came after a dear friend left town suddenly.

The song was recorded live at the Old Town Bistro in Socorro (NM)-- closer to home in the Rio Grande Valley, following a couple of trips to the Delta, where the song was actually born.

There's a youtube video in which we cruise the Delta by night.

lyrics

Memphis Blues

she packed her bags on Wednesday / never said which way she's goin' . . .
one thing I know for certain: she ain't never goin' home

Friday night, the phone rang / same number came up two times . . .
them calls came in from Memphis; wasn't no one on that line

Saturday I was sweatin'; up all night, I couldn't chill . . .
I finally called the healer; he said just one thing could cure my ill

he said 'that silence in the phone line—brother, it's got you on the run
. . .
you gonna have to find that ghost somewhere down highway 61'

I packed my bags on Sunday / friends said 'that ain't no way to be' . . .
anyone lookin' for me, just say I went to Tennessee

I went to Tennessee
went to Memphis, Tennessee
just tell 'em I'm gone
down highway 61
color me gone
down highway 61
gone to Memphis, Tennessee . . .

© Richard Malcolm

credits

released September 16, 2014
Slick Skelly: guitar
Dangerous Dave Dixon: bass
Jon Deaux: guitar, harp, vox

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about

Los Unusual Suspects Albuquerque, New Mexico

Some say the conspiracy got underway in the International District in 2010.
Others say it formed in the mists above the Mississippi River, where Route 66 crosses over, then rolled downriver through Memphis, across the Delta and the Mississippi hill country, into New Orleans and the Gulf, and then made its way back up the Rio Grande valley. ... more

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