I'm a guard in the great iron prison, at least I was 'till now
It was never a picnic social, never a day
They never come in laughing and you know they never taught them how
It was damn hard work, and you wouldn't believe the pay

It was early in the morning, Lord, I wasn't but half awake
When the cons went nuts, and took us by surprise
I never was one for shaking, but I found it hard to stand
With a six-inch blade held right between my eyes

We could hear a siren blowing, somebody yelled in pain
Then it got so quiet, you could hear a bird walk by
They all had masks on their faces, and they spoke with a voice of Cain
"If they come in shooting, then you know you're bound to die
If they come in shooting, then you know you're bound to die."

I turned to a buddy named Willie, I said "Willie, It'll be all right
If they meant to kill us we'd be half way down to Hell
See, they high-jacked a plane in the desert, and the government screamed and cries
But to save some lives, they opened up a prison cell"

So the days kept coming and going, tension was getting high
But I wasn't too worried, I figured I knew the score
I knew they were talking to someone, I knew they were willing to try
So I figured my freedom was a matter of a day or two more
But, Jesus, early this morning, the whirlybird dropped the gas
It made me puke and it brought me to my knees
The bullets came like hail-stones, I heard the first ones pass
Then they cut down Willie, and they got Jim Kelly and me
They cut down Willie, and they got Jim Kelly and me

They come in yelling curses, like they were crossing the River Rhine
Shot down every God-damned thing they saw
And while I lay there wounded, I took another one in my spine
Poor Jim Kelly took another one in his jaw
Oh, Poor Jim Kelly took another one in his jaw

They say we had our throats cut by a band of desperate men
Say they saved as many of us as they could
Well the governor he should know it, but I think I'll say it again
That the governor cut my throat and he cut it good

Let them take the governor, hold him for a couple of days
See who goes in shooting to set him free
Hell they'd open every jail in the country, they'd send them on their way
They'd never do to him what the governor done to me
They'd never do to him what the governor done to me