Talkin' New York

[Verse 1]

Rambling out of the wild West

Leaving the towns I love the best

Thought I’d seen some ups and downs

'Til I come into New York town

People going down to the ground

Buildings going up to the sky

[Verse 2]

Wintertime in New York town

The wind blowing snow around

Walk around with nowhere to go

Somebody could freeze right to the bone

I froze right to the bone

New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years

I didn’t feel so cold then

[Verse 3]

I swung on to my old guitar

Grabbed hold of a subway car

And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride

I landed up on the downtown side

Greenwich Village

[Verse 4]

I walked down there and ended up

In one of them coffeehouses on the block

Got on the stage to sing and play

Man there said, “Come back some other day

You sound like a hillbilly

We want folk singers here”

[Verse 5]

Well, I got a harmonica job, begun to play

Blowing my lungs out for a dollar a day

I blowed inside out and upside down

The man there said he loved my sound

He was raving about how he loved my sound

Dollar a day’s worth

[Verse 6]

And after weeks and weeks of hanging around

I finally got a job in New York town

In a bigger place, bigger money too

Even joined the union and paid my dues

[Verse 7]

Now, a very great man once said

That some people rob you with a fountain pen

It didn’t take too long to find out

Just what he was talkin’ about

A lot of people don’t have much food on their table

But they got a lot of forks ’n’ knives

And they got to cut something

[Verse 8]

So one morning when the sun was warm

I rambled out of New York town

Pulled my cap down over my eyes

And headed out for the western skies

So long, New York

Howdy, East Orange