Judy Collins - The hostage

I'm a ^Dmguard in the grey iron prison, at ^Gleast I was 'till ^Dmnow It was ^Gnever a picnic ^Bbsocial, never a ^Dmday They never come in laughing and you ^Gknow they never taught them ^Dmhow It was ^Gdamn hard work, and you ^Bbwouldn't believe the ^Dmpay

It was early in the morning, lord, I ^Gwasn't but half a^Dmwake When the ^Gcons went nuts, and ^Bbtook us by sur^Dmprise I never was one for shaking, but I ^Gfound it hard to ^Dmstand With a ^Gsix-inch blade held ^Bbright before my ^Dmeyes

We could hear a siren blowing, ^Gsomebody yelled in ^Dmpain Then it ^Ggot so quiet, you could ^Bbhear a bird walk ^Dmby They all had masks on their faces, and they ^Gspoke with a voice of ^DmCain "If they ^Gcome in shooting, then you ^Bbknow you're bound to ^Dmdie"

I turned to a buddy named Willie, I said "^GWillie, it'll be all ^Dmright If they ^Gmeant to kill us we'd be ^Bbhalf way down to ^DmHell

And the ^Ggovernment screamed and ^Dmcried But to ^Gsave some lives, they ^Bbopened up a prison ^Dmcell"

So the days kept coming and going, ^Gtension was getting ^Dmhigh But I ^Gwasn't too worried, I ^Bbfigured I knew the ^Dmscore I knew they were talking to someone, I ^Gknew they were willing to ^Dmtry So I ^Gfigured my freedom was a ^Bbmatter of a day or two ^Dmmore

But, Jesus, early this morning, the ^Gwhirlybird dropped the ^Dmgas It ^Gmade me puke and it ^Bbbrought me to my ^Dmknees The bullets came like hailstones, I ^Gheard the first ones ^Dmpass Then they ^Gcut down Willie, and they ^Bbgot Jim Kelly and ^Dmme

They come in yelling curses, like they were ^Gcrossing the River ^DmRhine ^GShot down every ^Bbgoddamned thing they ^Dmsaw And while I lay there wounded, I ^Gtook another one in my ^Dmspine ^GPoor Jim Kelly took a^Bbnother one in his ^Dmjaw

They say we had our throats cut by a ^Gband of desperate ^Dmmen ^GSay they saved as ^Bbmany of us as they ^Dmcould Well, the governor he should know it, but I ^Gthink I'll say it a^Dmgain That the ^Ggovernor cut my ^Bbthroat and he cut it ^Dmgood

Let them take the governor, hold ^Ghim for a couple of ^Dmdays ^GSee who goes in ^Bbshooting to set him ^Dmfree Hell, they'd open every jail in the country, they'd ^Gsend them on their ^Dmway They'd ^Gnever do to ^Bbhim what the governor done to ^Dmme