G G/B
Billy Rose was a low rider, Billy Rose was a night fighter
Am C Bm D
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Am
Busted on a drunken charge
C
Driving someone else's car
Cm G
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame
G G/B
In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale, how
Am C Bm D
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Am
Knowing they'd remain the boss
C
Knowing he would pay the cost
Cm G
They saw he was severely reprimanded
Em Bm
In the blackest cell on A Block
Em Bm
He hanged himself at dawn
Em Bm
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Am D
Don't mess with me, just take me home
Em D
Come and lay, help us lay
G
young Billy down
G G/B
Luna was a Mexican the law calls an alien
Am C Bm D
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
Am
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
C
Still he thought that he could get
Cm G
Some money and things to start a life
G G/B
It hadn't been too very long when it seemed like everything went wrong
Am C Bm D
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
Am
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
C
Thrown inside a Texas jail
Cm G
It left the wife and baby quite alone
Em Bm
He eased the pain inside him
Em Bm
With a needle in his arm
Em Bm
But the dope just crucified him
Am D
He died to no one's great alarm
Em D
Come and lay, help us lay
G
Young Luna down
Em D
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
G
To the ground
G G/B Am
Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay alive
C Bm D
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
Am
As the time he was to leave drew near
C
He suffered all the joy and fear
Cm G
Of leaving 35 years in the pen
G G/B
And on the day of his release he was approached by the police
Am C Bm D
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side
Am
The warden said "You won't remain here
C
But it seems a state retainer
Cm G
Claims another 10 years of your life."
Em Bm
He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
Em Bm
The cops all stood around
Em Bm
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
Am D
Then threw himself down on the ground
Em D
They might as well just have laid
G
The old man down
Em D
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
G
To the ground
Em D
Help us raze, raze the prisons
G
To the ground