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,
Ninggalin mama surat perpisahan,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
Menjelang senja, aku udah cabut dari Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,
Gitar di bawah jas, siap beraksi,
I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Aku numpang mobil 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 main di malam hari,
Just lookin' for a place to play,
Cuma nyari tempat buat main musik,
Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire,
Aku pikir permainan gitarku bakal bikin mereka terpesona,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.
Tapi nggak ada yang mau sewa gitaris.

Well, I nearly 'bout starved to death down in Memphis,
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 overload,
I thumbed on down to Panama City,
Aku numpang lagi ke Panama City,
Started pickin' out some o' them all night bars,
Mulai nyari bar yang buka semalaman,
Hopin' I could make myself a dollar,
Berharap bisa dapet sedikit uang,
Makin' music on my guitar,
Main musik dengan gitarku,
I got the same old story at them all night piers,
Cerita yang sama di semua tempat malam,
There ain't no room around here for a guitar man
Nggak ada tempat buat gitaris di sini,
We don't need a guitar man, son.
Kami nggak butuh gitaris, nak.

So I slept in the hobo jungles,
Jadi aku tidur di tempat para pengembara,
Roamed a thousand miles of track,
Berkelana ribuan mil di rel kereta,
Till I found myself in Mobile Alabama,
Sampai akhirnya aku 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 beranggotakan empat orang yang sedang asyik bermain,
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 tunjukkan pada mereka suara band yang sebenarnya,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Dengan gitaris kecil yang asyik.
Show 'em, son.
Tunjukkan, 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 sedikit waktu luang,
Just follow that crowd of people,
Ikuti kerumunan orang-orang itu,
You'll wind up out on his dance floor,
Kamu akan sampai di lantai dansa,
Diggin' the finest little five-piece group,
Menikmati grup kecil beranggotakan lima orang yang hebat,
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 kecil yang asyik itu.