Rotting On Remand by Billy Bragg

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#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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>From rousseaf@nil.IRO.UMontreal.CA (Francois Rousseau)
Subject: AOTW: Billy Bragg: Rotting On remand
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1993 05:51:51 GMT

               Rotting On Remand
                (Billy Bragg)

C
I stood before the judge that day
    F             C
As he refused my bail

And I knew that I would spend my time
                   G
Awaiting trial in jail
   C
I said there is no justice
         F                 C
As they led me out of the door
          F                                  C
And the judge said, "This isn't a court of justice son
      G              C
This is a court of law".

C
They first sent me to Windsor
     F                 C
And then to Stoke on Trent

In a holding cell in Liverpool
                         G
Three days and nights I spent
     C
My solicitor can't find me
         F           C
And my family don't know
        F                        C
I keep telling them that I'm innocent
                      G              C      C7
They just say, "Come on son, in you go."

        F                          C
I was picked up on suspicion of something I haven't done
C    B/C    A/C   G/C                            G
Here I sit in 'F' wing waiting for my trial to come
           F                            C        F
It's a cruel unusual punishment that society demands
                        C      G           C
Innocent till proven guilty, rotting on remand

F  C  G  C  A7

    D
I ended up in this jail
          G    D
Built in 18-82

When one man to one prison cell
                  A
Was a Victorian value
      D
Now three of us are squeezed in here
          G               D
And you can't escape the smell
           G            D
Of that bucket in the corner
       A                D
And we eat in here as well


They let me out of this cage
     G               D
To slop that bucket out

To get my food and bring it back
                          A
And if I'm lucky, get a shower
  D
Apart from one hours exercise
       G                 D
I'm locked in here all day
            G                   D
You don't turn criminals into citizens
       A               D    D7
By treating them this way

          G                          D
Is the prize of law and order the stench of Wormwood Scrubs
        D   C#/D    B/D    A/D                       A
With judges quick to sentence sending more down from above
       G                                D         G
It's a cruel unusual punishment that society demands
                        D      A          D
Innocent till proven guilty, rotting on remand    G  D  A  D ...

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Francois Rousseau
Laboratoire Incognito (Computer Languages)
Universite de Montreal, Canada
E-mail: rousseaf@iro.umontreal.ca
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