Talking New York
Ramblinā outa the wild West
Leavinā the towns I love the best
Thought Iād seen some ups and downs
āTil I come into New York town
People goinā down to the ground
Buildings goinā up to the sky
Wintertime in New York town
The wind blowinā snow around
Walk around with nowhere to go
Somebody could freeze right to the bone
I froze right to the bone
New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years
I didnāt feel so cold then
I swung onto my old guitar
Grabbed hold of a subway car
And after a rocking, reeling, rolling ride
I landed up on the downtown side
Greenwich Village
I walked down there and ended up
In one of them coffee-houses on the block
Got on the stage to sing and play
Man there said, āCome back some other day
You sound like a hillbilly
We want folk singers hereā
Well, I got a harmonica job, begun to play
Blowinā my lungs out for a dollar a day
I blowed inside out and upside down
The man there said he loved mā sound
He was ravinā about how he loved mā sound
Dollar a dayās worth
And after weeks and weeks of hanginā around
I finally got a job in New York town
In a bigger place, bigger money too
Even joined the union and paid mā dues
Now, a very great man once said
That some people rob you with a fountain pen
It didnāt take too long to find out
Just what he was talkinā about
A lot of people donāt have much food on their table
But they got a lot of forks ānā knives
And they gotta cut somethinā
So one morninā 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
Song to Woody
Iām out here a thousand miles from my home
Walkinā a road other men have gone down
Iām seeinā your world of people and things
Your paupers and peasants and princes and kings
Hey, hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
āBout a funny olā world thatās a-cominā along
Seems sick anā itās hungry, itās tired anā itās torn
It looks like itās a-dyinā anā itās hardly been born
Hey, Woody Guthrie, but I know that you know
All the things that Iām a-sayinā anā a-many times more
Iām a-singinā you the song, but I canāt sing enough
āCause thereās not many men that done the things that youāve done
Hereās to Cisco anā Sonny anā Leadbelly too
Anā to all the good people that traveled with you
Hereās to the hearts and the hands of the men
That come with the dust and are gone with the wind
Iām a-leavinā tomorrow, but I could leave today
Somewhere down the road someday
The very last thing that Iād want to do
Is to say Iāve been hittinā some hard travelinā too
Hard Times in New York Town
Come you ladies and you gentlemen, a-listen to my song
Sing it to you right, but you might think itās wrong
Just a little glimpse of a story Iāll tell
āBout an East Coast city that you all know well
Itās hard times in the city
Livinā down in New York town
Old New York City is a friendly old town
From Washington Heights to Harlem on down
Thereās a-mighty many people all millinā all around
Theyāll kick you when youāre up and knock you when youāre down
Itās hard times in the city
Livinā down in New York town
Itās a mighty long ways from the Golden Gate
To Rockefeller Plaza ānā the Empire State
Mister Rockefeller sets up as high as a bird
Old Mister Empire never says a word
Itās hard times from the country
Livinā down in New York town
Well, itās up in the morninā tryinā to find a job of work
Stand in one place till your feet begin to hurt
If you got a lot oā money you can make yourself merry
If you only got a nickel, itās the Staten Island Ferry
And itās hard times in the city
Livinā down in New York town
Mister Hudson co...