Did You Know About “Guitar Man” Song?
In the movie “Clambake,” Elvis Presley portrayed an oil heir who disguised himself as a water ski instructor—a role he had grown to dislike. For the past decade, his film career had significantly influenced his music, with most of his releases serving as soundtracks to his movies. However, by 1967, he had reached a breaking point. The film had produced only a few songs, some of which were omitted from the movie, leaving the producers scrambling to complete the album. Elvis found a solution by selecting some of his favorite songs from the radio.
One song that particularly excited him was “Guitar Man,” a recent country hit by the future “Smokey and the Bandit” actor, Jerry Reed. The song narrated the tale of an aspiring musician who left his job at a car wash to travel around the South, searching for a place to play his guitar. Unfortunately, it seemed that no one was interested in a guitar man, not even in Memphis, where Elvis had initially gained fame at Sun Records. His fortunes changed in Mobile, Alabama, where he led a four-man band at a bar known as Big Jack’s.
Although “Guitar Man” peaked at #53 on the country chart, it marked Reed’s first hit. Elvis, on the other hand, took it to #1 and achieved some minor crossover success, reaching #43 on the pop chart. In 1981, a posthumous release featuring Elvis’s original vocals and a new electric arrangement enjoyed even greater success. The single peaked at #28 on the Hot 100 and once again topped the country chart.
Elvis initially attempted to record this song during a session but struggled to capture the same funky groove as Jerry Reed’s rendition. Frustrated, he summoned Reed, who happened to be on a fishing trip. Reed recalled, “I had my own tuning, and they were trying to record ‘Guitar Man,’ and they couldn’t replicate my sound.” He continued, “One of the musicians pointed out that the guitarists in the studio were using straight picks, while Reed played with his fingers. So they called me, and I went down, made adjustments to my electric gut string, tuned the B-string up a whole tone, and lowered the low E-string a whole tone, enabling me to bar straight across. As soon as we started the intro, you could see Elvis’ enthusiasm. He knew we had nailed it.”
He added, “It turned into a jam session. I expected to be extremely nervous, but it was the opposite. I got excited, and so did Elvis. The more he got into it, the more I did—it was like a snowball effect. To be honest, I was on cloud nine. And when Elvis got into the spirit, magic happened. When the guitars and rhythm clicked just right, I guess the guitar riff reminded him of [Ray Charles’] ‘What’d I Say,’ and he started testifying at the end. That’s how it all came together—one of those rare moments in life you never forget.”
Despite a successful country single and additional songs not tied to any movie, the “Clambake” album sold fewer than 200,000 copies, marking it as Elvis’s worst-selling album up to that point. He faced the risk of fading into obscurity, but the following year, he made a remarkable comeback with the NBC special “Elvis,” which featured a performance of “Guitar Man.”
Reed’s rendition of the song was featured in the 2005 movie “The Dukes of Hazzard,” starring Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, and Jessica Simpson.
Watching Video Here
Lyrics
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