Songwriters sometimes need a change of scenery to get the inspiration they need. In the case of Marc Cohn, a special trip not only sparked his creativity but also gave him the impetus for his signature song.
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Cohn was a relatively unknown singer-songwriter when he delivered the huge hit “Walking In Memphis” in 1991. The lived-in experience found in the lyrics, combined with Cohn’s passionate embrace of the city’s musical history, lent this song its special resonance.
Finding His Muse
Marc Cohn was worried that it just wasn’t happening for him, at least not as a songwriter. Although he’d been plugging away at it for some time, he was already in his late 20s and wasn’t hearing anything special in the songs he’d written. Although he was getting work as a backup singer on recording sessions, he wondered if the creative aspect of his career was a no-go.
That’s when a girlfriend invited him to visit her in Memphis. Around that same time, Cohn remembered a James Taylor quote. Taylor had suggested that it can sometimes help writers to immerse themselves in a new location as a way of harvesting songwriting ideas.
Cohn decided it was worth a shot. “Walking In Memphis” came directly from Cohn’s visit. Specific events from his time spent there are included in the lyrics. The song also connects to the desperation that he felt as he attempted to locate his muse.
“Walking In Memphis” raised Cohn from obscurity into the singer-songwriter stratosphere in one fell swoop. The song, which was chosen as the lead single from his 1991 self-titled debut album, headed all the way to No. 13 on the charts. And it provided the impetus for what has been an impressive recording career.
Examining the Lyrics of “Walking In Memphis”
“Put on my blue suede shoes,” Marc Cohn begins on “Walking In Memphis”. “And I boarded the plane.” He immediately refers to his own personal malaise when he beckons the blues legend W.C. Handy for guidance. “Yeah, I got a first-class ticket,” he sings. “But I’m as blue as a boy can be.”
Cohn wisely realized that no song about the importance of Memphis to music could leave out Elvis Presley. Presley’s ghost saunters, unnoticed by all but the narrator, to Graceland, where his spirit easily slips through the solid gates. “But there’s a pretty little thing,” Cohn sings with a wink. “Waiting for the King / Down in the Jungle Room.”
In the middle eight, Cohn references his time spent at the church of none other than the Reverend Al Green, who knew a thing or two about music success. “And Reverend Green be glad to see you,” Cohn explains. “When you haven’t got a prayer.”
Perhaps the song’s most moving moment comes in the final verse, and this one pretty much happened as it’s written. Cohn did indeed visit the Hollywood Café in Mississippi, where he watched Muriel Wilkins do her thing on stage. And Wilkins invited Cohn to perform. That led to the song’s immortal lines: “She said, ‘Tell me, are you a Christian child?’ / And I said, ‘Ma’am, I am tonight.”
“But do I really feel the way I feel?” Marc Cohn asks in the chorus of “Walking In Memphis”. It seems to allude to the euphoria that the visit engendered in him. But it also could mean that he thought of the whole experience as a kind of wonderful fever dream. Regardless, the important part was how inspired he was at the end of it all.
Photo by Michel Linssen/Redferns
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