PRISON TRILOGY 
   (Words and Music by Joan Baez) 

Billy Rose was a low rider,
Billy Rose was a night fighter 
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name 
Busted on a drunken charge 
Driving someone else's car 
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame 

In an Arizona jail
There is some who'll tell the tale
How Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded 
Knowing they'd remain the boss 
Knowing he would pay the cost 
They saw he was severely reprimanded 

In the blackest cell on "A" Block 
He hanged himself at dawn 
With a note stuck to the bunk head 
"Don't mess with me, just take me home"

Come and lay, help us lay 
Young Billy down 

Luna was a Mexican
The law calls an alien 
For coming 'cross the border with a baby and a wife 
Though the clothes upon his back were wet 
Still he thought that he could get 
Some money and things to start a life 

It hadn't been too very long
When it seemed like everything went wrong 
Didn't even have the time to find themselves a home 
When this foreigner, a brown-skin male 
Thrown inside a Texas jail 
Left the wife and baby quite alone 

He eased the pain inside him 
With a needle in his arm 
But the dope just crucified him 
And he died to no one's great alarm 

Come and lay, help us lay 
Poor Luna down 
And we'll raze, raze the prisons 
To the ground 

Kilowatt was an aging con
Of 65 who stood a chance
To stay alive and leave the joint and walk the streets again 
As the time he was to leave drew near 
He suffered all the joy and fear 
Of leaving 35 years in the pen 

Then on the day of his release
He was approached by the police 
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side 
The warden said "You won't remain here 
But it seems a state retainer 
Claims another 10 years of your life." 

He stepped out in the Texas sunlight 
And the cops all stood around 
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards 
Then threw himself down on the ground 

They might as well just have laid 
That old man down 
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons 
To the ground 
Help us raze, raze the prisons 
To the ground 

© 1971, 1972 Chandos Music (ASCAP)