songs about jail

[ChrisL]

Sam Collins - Midnight Special Blues (1927) - one of the first recordings of this traditional song... the Midnight Special was a train whose light would take the singing prisoner away to freedom. Later made famous by Leadbelly and others...

​

Darn it, Pogo!

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[Pogo]

Sam Collins - Midnight Special Blues (1927) - one of the first recordings of this traditional song... the Midnight Special was a train whose light would take the singing prisoner away to freedom. Later made famous by Leadbelly and others...

​

Darn it, Pogo!

Wha? Whadeye do?

Oh, same song? Well GMTA.
I like Fogerty's treatment too.

Check out the label on the Sam Collins disc -- on the right: "Race Record"

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[ChrisL]

 

[eagle1462010]

 

[ChrisL]

 

[Pogo]

Ah, Leadbelly again -- one of several versions, with lively 12-string guitar

​

 

[ChrisL]

This one is rather comical.



When you're in prison, don't turn the other way
Keep your back against the wall
When you're in prison, don't turn the other way
Do not bend at all

Oh don't pick up the soap, pick up the soap
It's bad for you

Oh don't pick up the soap, pick up the soap
Someone will be waiting there for you

When you're in prison be sure to stay awake
Always lie upon your back

When you're in prison be sure to stay awake
Keep you from attack

Oh don't be no one's bitch, be no one's bitch
It's bad for you

Oh don't be no one's bitch, be no one's bitch
They won't help you make it through.

When you're in prison, don't turn the other way
Follow what I say to do.

When you're in prison, don't turn the other way
You can make it through
You can make it through
You can make it through

 

[Pogo]

Julius Daniels - Ninety-Nine Year Blues -- outstanding audio quality for 1927

​

Chris Smither version is great but not online...

"I said to the judge, I ain't never been here before,
He said 'I'll give you ninety-nine years boy, you won't be back no more,
Back no more..."

 

[ChrisL]

I think this would count as "proverbial" prison, AND it's a wicked awesome tune.

 

[ChrisL]

Being a prisoner in your body . . .



I can’t remember anything
Can’t tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

Now that the war is through with me
I’m waking up, I cannot see
That there’s not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, wake me

Back in the womb it’s much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can’t look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I’ll live

Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me

Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, wake me

Now the world is gone, I’m just one
Oh God, help me Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, help me

Darkness
Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Landmine
Has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell

 

[ChrisL]

^^^

Sorry, that's a bit depressing, huh?

 

[jon_berzerk]

in the Jailhouse Now

 

[ChrisL]

Last one for me!

London Dungeon ~ The Misfits

 

[jon_berzerk]

The Mercy Seat

 

[jon_berzerk]

I Hung My Head

 

[September]

Hallowed Be Thy Name

I'm waiting... in my cold cell...
when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting... on my past life...
and it doesn't have much time
'Cause at 5 o'clock...
they take me...
to the Gallows Pole...
THE SANDS OF TIME
for me
are running
LOOOOOOOOOWWWW


(Iron maiden Original)
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(Cradle of Filth Cover)
​

When the priest comes to read me the last rites...

I take a look through the bars at the last sights...
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me!
Can it be that there's some sort of an error?
Hard to stop the surmounting terror...
Is it really the end not some crazy dream?
Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming!
It's not easy to stop from screaming!
But words escape me when I try to speak!
Tears they flow but why am I crying?
After all I am not afraid of dying!
Don't I believe that there never is an end?
As the guards march me out to the courtyard...
Someone calls from a cell "God be with you"...
If there's a God then why has he let me die?
As I walk all my life drifts before me...
And though the end is near I'm not sorry...
Catch my soul 'cause it's willing to fly away!!!
Mark my words believe my soul lives on...
Don't worry now that I have gone...
I've gone beyond to seek the truth!!!
When you know that your time is close at hand...
Maybe then you'll begin to understand...
Life down there is just a strange illusion!!!!!

Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!
Hallowed be Thy name!!!

Yeah, yeah, yeah!!!
Hallowed be Thy
NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!

​

 

[Harry Dresden]

^^^

Sorry, that's a bit depressing, huh?

did you ever catch the movie that inspired the song?....seen it when it came out....one of the most anti war movies i have ever seen....real depressing....

Johnny Got His Gun film - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[ChrisL]

^^^

Sorry, that's a bit depressing, huh?

did you ever catch the movie that inspired the song?....seen it when it came out....one of the most anti war movies i have ever seen....real depressing....

Johnny Got His Gun film - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

No, I've never seen it. I don't think I would want to either. That sounds too sad for me. I would probably be bawling my eyes the whole movie! I'm a baby like that.