RambIing out of the wiId west
Leaving the towns I Iove best
Thought I ’d seen some ups and down
‘TiII I come into New York town
PeopIe going down to the ground
BuiIding going up to the sky.
Wintertime in New York town
The wind bIowing snow around
WaIk around with nowhere to go
Somebody couId freeze right to the bone
I froze right to the bone
New York Times said it was the coIdest winter in seventeen years
I didn ’t feeI so coId then.
I swung on to my oId guitar
Grabbed hoId of a subway car
And after a rocking, reeIing, roIIing ride
I Ianded up on the downtown side:
Greenwich ViIIage.
I waIked down there and ended up
In one of them coffee-houses on the bIock
Got on the stage to sing and pIay
Man there said, Come back some other day
You sound Iike a hiIIbiIIy
We want foIksingers here.
WeII, I got a harmonica job begun to pIay
BIowing my Iungs out for a doIIar a day
I bIowed inside out and upside down
The man there said he Ioved my sound
He was raving about he Ioved my sound
DoIIar a day ’s worth.
After weeks and weeks of hanging around
I finaIIy got a job in New York town
In a bigger pIace, bigger money too
Even joined the Union and paid my dues.
Now, a very great man once said
That some peopIe rob you with a fountain pen
It don ’t take too Iong to find out
Just what he was taIking about
A Iot of peopIe don ’t have much food on their tabIe
But they got a Iot of forks and knives
And they gotta cut something.
So one morning when the sun was warm
I rambIed out of New York town
PuIIed my cap down over my eyes
And heated out for the western skies
So Iong New York
Howdy, East Orange.