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 pamit,
By sundown I'd left Kingston,
Saat matahari terbenam, aku udah ninggalin Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,
Bawa 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 buat main 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 gak ada yang mau ngerekrut 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,
Naik truk ayam yang kelebihan muatan,
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,
Harap-harap bisa dapet duit,
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 bar malam itu,
There ain't no room around here for a guitar man
Gak ada tempat di sini buat gitaris,
We don't need a guitar man, son.
Kami gak butuh gitaris, nak.

So I slept in the hobo jungles,
Jadi aku tidur di hutan para pengembara,
Roamed a thousand miles of track,
Jelajahi seribu mil 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 lagi asyik main,
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
Jadi aku ambil gitarku dan ikut bermain,
I showed 'em what a band would sound like,
Aku tunjukkan ke mereka suara band yang keren,
With a swingin' little guitar man.
Dengan gitaris 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 bernama 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 itu,
You'll wind up out on his dance floor,
Kamu akan sampai di lantai dansa,
Diggin' the finest little five-piece group,
Nikmati grup musik lima orang yang 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.
Eh, tahu gak, itu si gitaris yang asyik.