Well, i quit my job down at the car wash,
left my mama a goodbye note,
by sundown i'd left kingston,
with my guitar under my coat,
i hitchhiked all the way down to memphis,
got a room at the ymca,
for the next three weeks i went huntin' them nights,
just lookin' for a place to play,
well, i thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
but nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.
well, i nearly 'bout starved to death down in memphis,
i run outta money and luck,
so i bought me a ride down to macon, georgia,
on a overloaded poultry truck,
i thumbed on down to panama city,
started pickin' out some o' them all night bars,
hopin' i could make myself a dollar,
makin' music on my guitar,
i got the same old story at them all night piers,
there ain't no room around here for a guitar man
we don't need a guitar man, son
so i slept in the hobo jungles,
roamed a thousand miles of track,
till i found myself in mobile alabama,
at a club they call big jack's,
a little four-piece band was jammin',
so i took my guitar and i sat in,
i showed 'em what a band would sound like,
with a swingin' little guitar man.
show 'em, son
if you ever take a trip down to the ocean,
find yourself down around mobile,
make it on out to a club called jack's,
if you got a little time to kill,
just follow that crowd of people,
you'll wind up out on his dance floor,
diggin' the finest little five-piece group,
up and down the gulf of mexico,
guess who's leadin' that five-piece band,
well, wouldn't ya know, it's that swingin' little guitar man.