Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Yah, aku berhenti dari kerjaan di tempat cuci mobil,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
Tinggalin mama surat perpisahan,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
Saat matahari terbenam, aku udah cabut dari Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,
Dengan gitar di bawah jaketku,
I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Aku minta tumpangan sampai ke Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
Dapat kamar di YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin' them nights,
Selama tiga minggu ke depan, aku cari tempat malam,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Cuma nyari tempat buat main,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
Aku kira, permainan gitarku bakal bikin mereka terkesima,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.
Tapi nggak ada yang mau nyewa gitaris.

Well, I nearly 'bout starved to death down in Memphis,
Aku hampir mati kelaparan di Memphis,
I run outta money and luck,
Uang dan keberuntunganku habis,
So I bought me a ride down to Macon, Georgia,
Jadi aku beli tumpangan ke Macon, Georgia,
On a overloaded poultry truck,
Di truk ayam yang penuh sesak,
I thumbed on down to Panama City,
Aku minta tumpangan ke Panama City,
Started pickin' out some o' them all night bars,
Mulai main di beberapa bar yang buka semalaman,
Hopin' I could make myself a dollar,
Berharap bisa dapet duit sedikit,
Makin' music on my guitar,
Main musik pakai gitarku,
I got the same old story at them all night piers,
Cerita yang sama di semua dermaga semalaman,
There ain't no room around here for a guitar man
Nggak ada tempat di sini buat gitaris,
We don't need a guitar man, son.
Kami nggak butuh gitaris, nak.

So I slept in the hobo jungles,
Jadi aku tidur di hutan gelandangan,
Roamed a thousand miles of track,
Bergelut ribuan mil di rel kereta,
Till I found myself in Mobile Alabama,
Sampai aku sampai di Mobile, Alabama,
At a club they call Big Jack's,
Di sebuah klub yang mereka sebut Big Jack's,
A little four-piece band was jammin',
Ada band kecil empat orang yang lagi nge-jam,
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
Jadi aku ambil gitarku dan ikut main,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
Aku tunjukkin ke mereka suara band yang asyik,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Dengan gitaris yang asyik.
Show 'em, son.
Tunjukin, nak.

If you ever take a trip down to the ocean,
Kalau kamu pernah jalan-jalan ke pantai,
Find yourself down around Mobile,
Sampai di sekitar Mobile,
Make it on out to a club called Jack's,
Datanglah ke klub yang disebut Jack's,
If you got a little time to kill,
Kalau kamu punya waktu sedikit,
Just follow that crowd of people,
Ikuti kerumunan orang itu,
You'll wind up out on his dance floor,
Kamu akan berakhir di lantai dansanya,
Diggin' the finest little five-piece group,
Nikmatin grup lima orang yang paling keren,
Up and down the Gulf of Mexico,
Di sepanjang Teluk Meksiko,
Guess who's leadin' that five-piece band,
Tebak siapa yang memimpin band lima orang itu,
Well, wouldn't ya know, it's that swingin' little guitar man.
Yah, siapa lagi kalau bukan gitaris yang asyik itu.