[Verse 1]
I hid a batch in Frisco
I couldn't score a job
So I did the next best thing, and I learned how to rob
I took that train to Houston
But I couldn't get away
"From the five-and-dime about the time"
The constable would say

[Chorus]
Come on down to the penitentiary
Oh, mama, the law came crashing down on me

[Post-Chorus]
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh

[Verse 2]
Playing stud in the evening
The solitary night
Leon has the cigarettes, and Capone has got the light
Now I'm shifting squares with a man from Arkansas
He took my rook, oh Lord, and my king's about to fall

[Chorus]
Come on down to the penitentiary
Oh, mama, the law came crashing down on me
[Post-Chorus]
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh

[Instrumental Break]

[Bridge]
And I'm calling from a payphone
Down around Lawrence Bend
Got me a pardon, son
Gonna do it all again

[Chorus]
Come on down to the penitentiary
Oh, mama, the law came crashing down on me
Come on down to the penitentiary
Oh, mama, the law came crashing down on me

[Post-Chorus]
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh (Come on down to the penitentiary)
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh (Oh, mama, the law came crashing down on me)