I it's called The Ballad of Johnny Strozier.
In the red clay Georgia hills
Among the busted whiskey stills
With barbed wire stranded high
spend their life inside a cage
And they never even learn the reason
As the twilight meets the dawn
The iron bar jailhouse doors are drawn
And the sound of tin cups
But Johnny Strozier stays behind
In his dungeon cell confined
Of your precious time to spare?
Or will you hide your face pretendin'
That it ain't your place to care
Are we really all so cruel?
I guess only time will tell
For a Georgia boy who's locked up
In a lonesome alcove cell
Well, ain't never used a gun
And he ain't never hurt no one
As he stares out through the
Oh, the life inside his eyes
Is more empty than the skies
When they're drained of all the heav
Now he'd like to learn to read out of
your pretty books and things
But the warden cannot possibly allow
For such things to take their place
In the facts of Johnny's case
So nobody's even tried to teach him how
of your precious time to spare?
Or will you hide your face pretendin'
that it ain't your place to care?
Are we really all so cruel?
I guess only time will tell
Poor Georgia boy who's locked up
in a lonesome alcove cell
Sure he's taken from your store
and yes he's broken through your door
So you bound him with your shackle
So what right, my friend,
stealin' from the helpless and the blind
But for a boy whose only crime
was bein' born without a dime
It's forty years inside that prison,
maybe even a whole lifetime
of your precious time to spare?
Well, you hide your face pretendin'
that it ain't your place to care
Are we really all so cruel?
I guess only time will tell
who's locked up in a lonesome alcove cell
4.7
