[Verse 1] Well, I quit my job down at the car wash I 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 hunting them nights Just looking for a place to play Well, I thought my picking would set them on fire But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man [Verse 2] Well, I nearly about starved to d**h down in Memphis I run out to 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 picking out some of them all night bars Hoping I could make myself a dollar Making music on my guitar I got the same old story at them all night piers There is no room around here for a guitar man We don't need a guitar man, son [Verse 3] 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 jamming So I took my guitar and I sat in I showed them what a band would sound like With a swinging little guitar man Show them, son [Verse 4] 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 k** Just follow that crowd of people You'll wind up out on his dance floor Digging the finest little five-piece group Up and down the Gulf of Mexico Guess who's leading that five-piece band Well, wouldn't you know, it's that swinging little guitar man [Verse 5]] Well, I came a long way from the car wash Got to where I said I'd get Now that I'm here I know for sure I really have not got there yet Think I'll start all over Swing my guitar over my back I'm going to get myself back on the track I'll never, never ever look back I'll never be more than what I am Wouldn't you know I' m a swinging little Guitar man