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Description
I wrote this as a teenager having read Ivan Illich, Fromm, Rollo May and Hesse at a time when it seemed schools and other institutions were trying to turn out people who did not question things. At the same time I think my father was the model. In many ways I idolized him, but he could also be so stubborn (in both good and self-defeating ways). I guess I was trying to reach him by weaving a subtle message into the more direct one about the prisons that are our institutions of learning.
In the original I had more verses, but somehow they never sounded authentic, and so I deleted them...though I still have the old recording around here somewhere.
In the original I had more verses, but somehow they never sounded authentic, and so I deleted them...though I still have the old recording around here somewhere.
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Lyrics
Twilight has blanketed old country jail
The prisoners ain't sleeping, they're quietly waiting
And counting the days till the door is swung wide
And summertime welcomes them home
REFRAIN
Go down you broken old shell of a man
Down where the young river rolls
The cage that has sprung you has robbed you of sight
And you are still caught in the night
To keep all our children from going to crime
We'll lock them in schoolrooms and structure their time
And we'll give them their freedom when lessons are learned
So life will not lead them astray
OMITTED LYRICS FROM THIS RECORDING (AFTER FIRST VERSE)
A black, broken prisoner lies lifeless and cold
He slept with a white girl just 10 years ago
But no-one condemns the white settler men
Who brought their religion then took all the land
The prisoners ain't sleeping, they're quietly waiting
And counting the days till the door is swung wide
And summertime welcomes them home
REFRAIN
Go down you broken old shell of a man
Down where the young river rolls
The cage that has sprung you has robbed you of sight
And you are still caught in the night
To keep all our children from going to crime
We'll lock them in schoolrooms and structure their time
And we'll give them their freedom when lessons are learned
So life will not lead them astray
OMITTED LYRICS FROM THIS RECORDING (AFTER FIRST VERSE)
A black, broken prisoner lies lifeless and cold
He slept with a white girl just 10 years ago
But no-one condemns the white settler men
Who brought their religion then took all the land
Nice vocals! Very nice guitar work too!