About The Song
Musicians’ best music comes from their struggles and life experiences that they have overcome. The best way to share those experiences is through a song. One good example for this is the song “Guitar Man”.
“Guitar Man” is a 1967 song written by Jerry Reed. Reed’s version makes him take the 53rd spot on the country music charts the same year.
Soon after Reed’s single appeared, Elvis Presley recorded the song with Reed playing the guitar part. This cover became a minor country and pop hit. According to Peter Guralnick in his two-volume biography of Presley, the singer had been trying unsuccessfully to record the tune. Also, he was not happy with the groove. Guralnick shared that The Kings said something to the effect of: “Get me that redneck picker who’s on the original tune”. Soon, his staff brought Reed into the studio. On the first take, he nailed it right on. The single spent one week at number one on the country chart.
Video
Lyric
Well, I quit my job down at the car wash,
Left my mama a goodbye note,
By sundown I’d left Kingston,
With my guitar under my coat,
I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis,
Got a room at the YMCA,
For the next three weeks I went huntin’ them nights,
Just lookin’ for a place to play,
Well, I thought my pickin’ would set ’em on fire,
But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man.Well, I nearly ’bout starved to death down in Memphis,
I run outta money and luck,
So I bought me a ride down to Macon, Georgia,
On a overloaded poultry truck,
I thumbed on down to Panama City,
Started pickin’ out some o’ them all night bars,
Hopin’ I could make myself a dollar,
Makin’ music on my guitar,
I got the same old story at them all night piers,
There ain’t no room around here for a guitar man
We don’t need a guitar man, sonSo I slept in the hobo jungles,
Roamed a thousand miles of track,
Till I found myself in Mobile Alabama,
At a club they call Big Jack’s,
A little four-piece band was jammin’,
So I took my guitar and I sat in,
I showed ’em what a band would sound like,
With a swingin’ little guitar man.
Show ’em, sonIf you ever take a trip down to the ocean,
Find yourself down around Mobile,
Make it on out to a club called Jack’s,
If you got a little time to kill,
Just follow that crowd of people,
You’ll wind up out on his dance floor,
Diggin’ the finest little five-piece group,
Up and down the Gulf of Mexico,
Guess who’s leadin’ that five-piece band,
Well, wouldn’t ya know, it’s that swingin’ little guitar man.[The TV-special verse:]
Well, I came a long way from the carwash,
Got to where I said I’d get
Now that I’m here I know for sure
I really ain’t got there yet
Think I’ll start all over
Swing my guitar over my back
I’m gonna get myself back on the track
I’ll never, never ever look back
I’ll never be more than what I am
Wouldn’t you know
I’ m a swinging little Guitar man