[Intro]
This isn't like the usual New York songs, a lot of songs you hear nowadays you hear about New York, they're all a glamor kind, on 42nd Street, Broadway Theaters, you hear them all the time. "New York, New York the wonderful town, let's go to New York for our vacation, see what a great town it is," this wasn't written up there where all those songs were written, this was written down in the United States
[Verse 1]
Ramblin' out of the Wild West
Leavin' the towns that I love the best
I thought I'd seen some ups and downs
'Til I rambled into New York Town
Buildings goin' down to the ground
People goin' up to the sky
[Verse 2]
Well, I got on a subway, took a seat
I got off on 42nd Street
I met this fellow named Dolores there
He started rubbing his hands through my hair
I went to ten hot-dog stands, four movie houses
And a couple of dancing studios
Back on the subway
[Verse 3]
Well, I swung on to my old guitars
I grabbed hold of that old subway car
From a rockin', rollin', reelin' ride
I landed up on the downtown side
Greenwich Village
Folklore Center
Izzy Young, Theodore Bikel
[Verse 4]
Well, I walked down there and ended up
In one of them coffeehouses on the block
When I get 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]
Got a harmonica job, begun to play
Blowin' my brains out for a dollar a day
I blowed inside-out and upside-down
The man there said he's crazy about my sound
He's ravin' about it, he's telling all his friends about it
A dollar a day's worth
[Verse 6]
After weeks and weeks of hangin' 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
Six months in advance
[Verse 7]
Now, some very great man he once said
That some people rob you with a fountain pen
In New York, it take, don't take, too long to find out
Just what he was talkin' about
A lot of people don't have much food on their tables
But they got a lot of forks, a lot of knives
And then they gotta cut something, watch out
[Verse 8]
So one mornin' 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