Talkin’ New York (Live at Gerdes Folk City, NYC - April 16, 1962)

[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