Prison Trilogy (Billy Rose)
Billy Rose was a low rider, Billy Rose was a night fighterBilly Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own nameBusted on a drunken chargeDriving someone else's carThe local midnight sheriff's claim to fame
In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale howBilly fought the sergeant for some milk that he demandedKnowing they'd remain the bossKnowing he would pay the costThey saw he was severely reprimanded
In the blackest cell on "A" BlockHe hanged himself at dawnWith a note stuck to the bunk headDon't mess with me, just take me home
Come and lay, help us layyoung Billy down
Luna was a Mexican the law called an alienFor coming across the border with a baby and a wifeThough the clothes upon his back were wetStill he thought that he could getSome money and things to start a life
It hadn't been too very long when it seemed like everything went wrongThey didn't even have the time to find themselves a homeThis foreigner, a brown-skin maleThrown into a Texas jailIt left the wife and baby quite alone
He eased the pain inside himWith a needle in his armBut the dope just crucified himHe died to no one's great alarm
Come and lay, help us layYoung Luna downAnd we're gonna raze, raze the prisonsTo the ground
Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay aliveAnd leave the joint and walk the streets againAs the time he was to leave drew nearHe suffered all the joy and fearOf leaving 35 years in the pen
And on the day of his release he was approached by the policeWho took him to the warden walking slowly by his sideThe warden said "You won't remain hereBut it seems a state retainerClaims another 10 years of your life."
He stepped out in the Texas sunlightThe cops all stood aroundOld Kilowatt ran 50 yardsThen threw himself down on the ground
They might as well just have laidThe old man downAnd we're gonna raze, raze the prisonsTo the groundHelp us raze, raze the prisonsTo the ground