Story Behind The Song

YOUNG MAN RAISED BY GOOD FAMILY WINDS UP ON A BAD CROWD AND WINDS UP IN RISON.

Song Description

RAISED BY GOOD PARENTS, CHURCH GOING, ETC BUT SOMEHOW IT DIDN'T WORK IN HIS CASE.

Lyrics

CELLBLOCK 17
Words & Music by Darryl S. Brannen
V .1) Ever since I was a young boy, I heard my Daddy say
"Keep the Golden Rule and walk the straight and narrow way. We've tried our very best to raise you right so do us proud
Don't lie or cheat or run the street at night with the wrong crowd"

V .2) Well I tried to make 'em happy, I went to church and stayed in school, and did my best to show 'em that they didn't raise no fool. But, Daddy passed away one day and Mama lost her mind I rode my thumb to Memphis, without a single dime
V .3) I walked those city streets, cold and hungry to the core. Out of desperation I held up that liquor store
But I didn't plan to shoot a man who died there at the scene. That put me on the pathway, to Cellblock 17

C.) Now it's a place where big men break
And those who don't soon will
Where the nights are pierced with cries and moans and the days are deathly still
Where men confined build holes in time and smiles are seldom seen
For men like me condemned to die On Cellblock 17
V .4) For nine long years I've sat here in this cell for what I've done to await the day they finally say, my date with death has come
Now I've seen some men take their last walk, with their heads held high, while others laugh, scream, fight or beg, with terror in their eyes
V .5) Now the warden stands beside me, as the chaplain says a prayer, my life flashes before me as they strap me in this chair. God let my tragic ending, prevent those after me
To live a life which leads to death, on Cellblock 17

C.) REPEAT, tag ( "beyond the gray forbidding walls of Cellblock 17" ),
end ...'

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