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Prison Trilogy Lyrics
Billy Rose was a low rider, Billy Rose was a night fighter
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Busted on a drunken charge
Driving someone else's car
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame
In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale how
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Knowing they'd remain the boss
Knowing he would pay the cost
They saw he was severely reprimanded
In the blackest cell on "A" Block
He hanged himself at dawn
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Don't mess with me, just take me home
Come and lay, help us lay
young Billy down
Luna was a Mexican the law called an alien
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
Still he thought that he could get
Some money and things to start a life
It hadn't been too very long when it seemed like everything went wrong
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
Thrown into a Texas jail
It left the wife and baby quite alone
He eased the pain inside him
With a needle in his arm
But the dope just crucified him
He died to no one's great alarm
Come and lay, help us lay
Young Luna down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay alive
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
As the time he was to leave drew near
He suffered all the joy and fear
Of leaving 35 years in the pen
And on the day of his release he was approached by the police
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side
The warden said "You won't remain here
But it seems a state retainer
Claims another 10 years of your life."
He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
The cops all stood around
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
Then threw himself down on the ground
They might as well just have laid
The old man down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Busted on a drunken charge
Driving someone else's car
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Knowing they'd remain the boss
Knowing he would pay the cost
They saw he was severely reprimanded
He hanged himself at dawn
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Don't mess with me, just take me home
young Billy down
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
Still he thought that he could get
Some money and things to start a life
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
Thrown into a Texas jail
It left the wife and baby quite alone
With a needle in his arm
But the dope just crucified him
He died to no one's great alarm
Young Luna down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
As the time he was to leave drew near
He suffered all the joy and fear
Of leaving 35 years in the pen
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side
The warden said "You won't remain here
But it seems a state retainer
Claims another 10 years of your life."
The cops all stood around
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
Then threw himself down on the ground
The old man down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
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this song really touches me! and her voice so shrilling! im taking the point of the song being about what being incercerated can do to you. it also explores the fact that to the legal/justice system, you are not even seen as human, you have no feelings, no rights, no claim to life. I can still remember first hearing this song a few years ago and every time time i listened to it i'd always be crying. i just couldnt help it, the way the song is delivered and the whole story of it. its all so sad but true
still I see a logic leap in refrain's "raze the prisons to the ground". In USSR we had a song (from Civil War time, 1918-1921) with the following lines: "We are fanning a world fire We will raze churches and prisons to the ground". (I think it can be traced to the Bastille in 18 century France). Well, such things turn out bad. To close even some prisons takes much more efforts than a revolutionary dash. Still, it can be done, and I thank Joan Baez for raising conscience.
still I see a logic leap in refrain's "raze the prisons to the ground". In USSR we had a song (from Civil War time, 1918-1921) with the following lines: "We are fanning a world fire We will raze churches and prisons to the ground". (I think it can be traced to the Bastille in 18 century France). Well, such things turn out bad. To close even some prisons takes much more efforts than a revolutionary dash. Still, it can be done, and I thank Joan Baez for raising conscience.