1 Meaning
Add Yours
Share
Q&A
I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now Lyrics
I got rid of the shackles that bound me and the guards that were always around me
There were tears on the mail mother sent me in jail
But I'm free from the chain gang now
Back home I was known and respected then one day I was wrongly suspected
So they put me in chains in a cold freezin' rain but I'm free from the chain gang now
[ guitar ]
All the years I was known by a number how I kept my mind is a wonder
And the bare prison cell that was one step from hell
But I'm free from the chain gang now
I prayed that the gossip will spare me when I return to the one I will marry
Like a bird in a tree I got my liberty and I'm free from the chain gang now
There were tears on the mail mother sent me in jail
But I'm free from the chain gang now
Back home I was known and respected then one day I was wrongly suspected
So they put me in chains in a cold freezin' rain but I'm free from the chain gang now
[ guitar ]
All the years I was known by a number how I kept my mind is a wonder
And the bare prison cell that was one step from hell
But I'm free from the chain gang now
I prayed that the gossip will spare me when I return to the one I will marry
Like a bird in a tree I got my liberty and I'm free from the chain gang now
I love this song. It is one of the best on the American V disc. His voice is so haunting.
When you read the lyrics, it sounds like the prisoner was set free after being imprisoned wrongfully, but when you hear Cash singing it, it sounds like he was executed and was free in that sense.
It is a true masterpiece, in every sense of the word. Cash's final words were some of his strongest.