Bob Dylan / 7:06
Musicians
Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica
Joe South: guitar
Charlie McCoy: guitar
Mac Gayden: guitar
Wayne Moss: guitar
Al Kooper: organ
Hargus Robbins: piano (?)
Bill Aikins: piano (?)
Henry Strzelecki: bass
Kenneth Buttrey: drums
Recording Studio
Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville: February 16 and 17, 1966
Technical Team
Producer: Bob Johnston
In a story straight out of a roman noir by W. R. Burnett or by James M. Cain, the narrator of this song finds himself stuck in a strange city—Mobile, Alabama—far away from home and family.
The song is a good example of Dylan writing under the literary influence of the Beat generation. The second verse is a masterpiece of nonsense or the result of a psychedelic experience: “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.” Dylan refers to a French girl in an alley for the second time; the first was in his 1965 song “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.” In the third verse, Mona comes to rescue the unfortunate narrator by telling him, “To stay away from the train line / She said that all the railroad men / Just drink up your blood like wine.” A senator appears in the fifth verse, “Now the senator came down here / Showing ev’ryone his gun / Handing out free tickets / To the wedding of his son.” The song has nine stranzas ending with the same question: “Oh, Mama, can this really be the end / To be stuck inside of Mobile / With the Memphis blues again?”
Although the title of the song evokes the Memphis blues, the actual arrangement is rocklike in style with pop accents. Dylan recorded twenty takes during the night of February 16–17, between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., in a session devoted entirely to “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again.” Dylan constantly introduced modifications in the words and in the piece’s structure. Eventually, the twentieth and final take was chosen as the master. Three of the other takes were also used. The fifth take was released on The Bootleg Series Volume 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack in 2005. That version has a slower tempo, closer to the spirit of blues and perhaps more inspired than the one released on the album. Joe South distinguished himself by his brilliant guitar playing and licks in the Nashville style. Al Kooper: “His unique guitar style is most discernible in the mix on ‘Memphis Blues Again.’ He and I have some nice organ-guitar trade-offs in that one.”42
Like a majority of the tracks in the album, “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” relies heavily on guitars, although it is difficult to put a name on each instrumental part. This piece features two acoustic guitars, and probably also a 12-string guitar. A rhythmic part for electric guitar and piano, especially at the breaks and the end of each verse, can be heard, but both are lost in the mix. Finally, Strzelecki and Buttrey provide an excellent bass-drum groove.
“Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” was also released as a single with “Rita May” on the B-side and was available in stores on November 30, 1976. This single did poorly on the charts. Bob Dylan performed it live for the first time on April 28, 1976, at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.