Walking in Memphis was written by Marc Cohn and was released in 1991. Cohn wrote the song after a visit to Memphis, TN. It is semi-autobiographical and takes the listener on a trip through history and nostalgia.
He first mentions putting on his blue suede shoes, a tribute to Carl Perkins who recorded the song Blue Suede Shoes for Sam Phillips at Sun Studios. Sun Studios is also located at 706 Union Avenue, as mentioned in the lyrics, and is where Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and countless Delta bluesmen recorded their music in the hopes of hitting it big. He touches "down in the land of the Delta blues": Memphis is the top corner of the Mississippi Delta region; "in the middle of the pouring rain": the piano melody that opens the song is reminiscent of falling rain.
W. C. Handy is also given a mention, and justly so. While Handy wasn't a Delta bluesman (he was actually a formally trained musician and bandleader), he was one of the first to recognize the brilliance of blues music. It was Handy who introduced the blues to the rest of the world (before the recording studios took the chance).
Cohn sees the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue, then follows "him up to the gates of Graceland", Elvis's Memphis mansion. Inside a "pretty little thing" waits for the King in his Jungle room (Elvis' homage to his favorite vacation spot, Hawaii).
While he was in Memphis, Cohn took a short drive out of town to visit The Hollywood Cafe, which is a real place off of Highway 61. Murial, who "plays piano every night at the Hollywood" struck up a friendship with Cohn and even attended his wedding in New York. She was immortalized by being written into the song.
"Catfish on the table and gospel in the air" reminds us that we are truly in the South. "Reverend Green be glad to see you" tributes Al Green, who is a celebrated soul singer in his own right, and later became an ordained pastor for the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis.