This isn't like the usual New York songs.
A lot of the songs you hear nowadays
about New York,
they're all the glamour kind on 42nd Street,
Broadway theatres, you hear
them all the time.
New York, New York, the
wonderful town.
Let's go to New York on
our vacation
and see what a great town it is.
This wasn't written up there
where all those songs are written,
this is written down in the United
States.
Ramblin' out in the wild west
Leavin' the towns that I love the best
I thought I seen some ups and downs
Till I rambled into New York town
Buildings goin' down to the
ground
People goin' up to the sky
Well, I got on the subway,
took a seat
and got off on 42nd Street.
I met this fella named
Dolores there.
He started rubbin' his
hands through my hair.
I run to 10 hot dog stands,
four movie houses,
and a couple of dancing studios
back on the subway.
Well, I swung on to my old guitar
as I grabbed hold of that old
subway car.
from a rockin' road and reelin'
ride
I landed up on the downtown side
Greenwich Village
Folklore Center
Izzy Young Theodore McKell
Well, walked down there and I ended up in
one of them coffee houses on the block
And I'd get on the stage, sing and play
A man there say,
come back some other day
Sound like a hillbilly
We want folk singers here
Had a harmonica job, begun to play
Blowing my brains out
for a dollar a day
I blowed inside out an
d upside down
The man there said
he's crazy about the sound
He's raving about it
He's telling all his friends about it
A dollar a day's worth
After weeks and weeks of
hanging around
I finally got a job in New York town
And a bigger place, bigger money too
I even joined the union and paid my dues
Six months in advance
Now, some very great man, he once said,
some people rob you with a
fountain pen.
In New York, it didn't take too long
to find out just what he was talking about.
A lot of people don't have
too much food on their tables.
But they got a lot of forks,
a lot of knives.
And they got to cut something,
watch out
So one morning when the
sun was warm
I rambled out of New York town
Pulled my cap down over my eyes
Headed out for the western skies
So long, New York
Howdy, East Orange!
APPLAUSE