Prison Trilogy Billy Rose by Joan Baez

PRISON TRILOGY 
(Words and Music by Joan Baez) 

C			     G
Billy Rose was a low rider, Billy Rose was a night fighter 
F		C				G
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name 
F
Busted on a drunken charge 
Driving someone else's car 
G				     C
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 

F			    C
In the blackest cell on "A" Block 
F			G
He hanged himself at dawn 
F				C
With a note stuck to the bunk head 
G
Don't mess with me, just take me home 
C			G	
Come and lay, help us lay 
		C
young Billy down 

F G C


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 

F		           G			
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons 
C
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 

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