It's a cold day down in Memphis
Handy's shadow shivering in the shade
It's a cold day down in Memphis
He just stand there he don't play
The thunder growls in the dull grey sky
He just stands, nothing left to say

Martin spoke of kindness
Timeless words echo through the years
Martin spoke of kindness
Sometimes no one wants to hear
Jim Crow seems slow to go
Now sixty-four is just another year

Watching T.V. in the pawn shop
Down on ole Beale street one day
Watching T.V. in the pawn shop
Saw Bobby's life get blown away
A bullet caused his heart to stop
His future gone, now come what may

Vacant houses, empty windows stare
Once they were homes, now no one's there
The hopes and dreams that used to be
Gone to children raising babies in poverty
What life was there is long gone
Tell me now where did we go wrong

The Mississippi flows on down the line
Cotton was king once upon a time
Those times are gone along the road
Washed away with the river's flow
Like Katrina washed the gulf away
Maybe it will rise again some day

We watch the ghosts of old charades
Pass us all by in slow parade
Memories mingle sweet and sour
Centuries slide by hour by hour
What's been left behind for us
Will it be here when times get rough

There's not enough to go around
All we've lost, what have we found
Three percent get the lion's share
Now does anyone think that's fair
The rich stay rich the poor stay poor
Do we even know what hope is for

Yeah, it's a cold day down in Memphis
I saw Handys' shadow shivering in the shade
Yeah, the world just keeps spinning round
We've all lost what we've never found
There's nowhere to go, nowhere to start
This cold day in Memphis has gone dark