I've been struggling up here, child, trying to make a living

Everybody wants to take, nobody like giving

I wish I was in Memphis back home there with my Mama

The only clothes I got left that ain't rags is my pajamas

No brotherly love, no help, no danger

Just a great big town full of cold hearted strangers



I went hungry in New York and Chicago was no better

But today, my dear mother wrote and told me in her letter

Son, come back to Memphis and live here with your Mama

You can walk down Beale Street, honey, wearing your pajamas

You know home folks here, we let do just what you want to

And I born you and raised you right here on the corner



I'm going to leave here in the morning and walk down to the station

I've got just enough money to pay my transportation

I'm going back to Memphis, back home with my Mama

If I have to ride that bus barefooted in pajamas

Back home in Memphis, no moaning and groaning

I know everything will be all right in the morning