Prison Trilogy Billy Rose

C                                  G                D
  Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Am
Busted on a drunken charge
C
Driving someone else's car
    Cm                                 G
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame

      G                      Hm
In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale, how
C                                  G              D
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Am
Knowing they'd remain the boss
C
Knowing he would pay the cost
     Cm                        G
They saw he was severely reprimanded

       Em               Hm
In the blackest cell on A Block
   Em                Hm
He hanged himself at dawn
       Em                Hm
With a note stuck to the bunk head
      Am                         D
Don't mess with me, just take me home

         Em           D
Come and lay, help us lay
            G
young Billy down

G                      Hm
Luna was a Mexican the law calls an alien
    C                               G          D
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
           Am
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
C
Still he thought that he could get
     Cm                           G
Some money and things to start a life

   G                                 Hm
It hadn't been too very long when it seemed like everything went wrong
     C                            G                 D
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
     Am
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
C
Thrown inside a Texas jail
   Cm                             G
It left the wife and baby quite alone

   Em               Hm
He eased the pain inside him
       Em            Hm
With a needle in his arm
        Em             Hm
But the dope just crucified him
   Am                      D
He died to no one's great alarm

         Em           D
Come and lay, help us lay
           G
Young Luna down
                Em             D
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
       G
To the ground

G                            Hm                        C
Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay alive
                        G                D
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
       Am
As the time he was to leave drew near
   C
He suffered all the joy and fear
   Cm                       G
Of leaving 35 years in the pen

    G                            Bm
And on the day of his release he was approached by the police
    C                              G             D
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side
    Am
The warden said "You won't remain here
C
But it seems a state retainer
Cm                               G
Claims another 10 years of your life."

           Em               Hm
He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
    Em              Hm
The cops all stood around
    Em           Hm
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
     Am                        D
Then threw himself down on the ground

              Em             D
They might as well just have laid
            G
The old man down
                Em             D
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
       G
To the ground
        Em             D
Help us raze, raze the prisons
       G
To the ground