This song isn't about how the judicial system needs to be changed, nor does it tell the listener that they should kill everyone who does wrong-doing. This song is merely a story. In the first few lines, it obviously should that someone is frustrated with people getting off easy. But then the person's father tells the son (or the son remembers being told) that back in the day, everyone used to just round-up all the bad guys on the street and hang 'em high. It's kinda like the story we always hear that goes, "Back in the day, I had to walk 10 miles uphill in 8 inch snw everyday to get to school." That's all it really says, and it's up to the listener's own ideals to decided whether it's right or wrong...
This song isn't about how the judicial system needs to be changed, nor does it tell the listener that they should kill everyone who does wrong-doing. This song is merely a story. In the first few lines, it obviously should that someone is frustrated with people getting off easy. But then the person's father tells the son (or the son remembers being told) that back in the day, everyone used to just round-up all the bad guys on the street and hang 'em high. It's kinda like the story we always hear that goes, "Back in the day, I had to walk 10 miles uphill in 8 inch snw everyday to get to school." That's all it really says, and it's up to the listener's own ideals to decided whether it's right or wrong...