Well, there's lots of strange men in cell-block ten,
but the strangest of them all
was a pal of mine who would spend his time
just staring at the wall, staring at the wall.
In his hand was a note that his gal had wrote,
which proves that crime don't pay
the very same gal that he'd robbed and stole for,
naming her wedding day, naming her wedding day.
As he looked at the wall so strong and tall,
I heard him softly curse, "nobody at all
has ever made that wall, but I'm gonna be the first,
I'm gonna be the first."
Well the Warden walked by, said "Son don't try,
cause I'd hate to see you fall -
cause there ain't no doubt we're gonna carry you out
if you ever touch that wall, if you ever touch that wall."
But a year has gone by since he made his try;
I can still recall how hard he tried
and the way he died,
but he never topped the wall, never topped the wall.
Many a man who has shook this can,
and I know a man who tried.
The newspapers called it a jailbreak plan,
but I know it was suicide; I know that it was suicide.
Well I know that I shouldn't have done it
I know it just wasn't right.
Cause they got me backed up to the Cottonmouth river
and I can't cross late at night.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.
Well if I had my life to live over,
I'd've gone to work that day
instead of going into town and shooting him down
for a thing I never heard him say.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.
Well, I'd just made it through the canebreak
and got one foot in the mud.
I can hear the hounds a-bayin'
but the snake around my ankle's telling me
my running days are done.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.
but the strangest of them all
was a pal of mine who would spend his time
just staring at the wall, staring at the wall.
In his hand was a note that his gal had wrote,
which proves that crime don't pay
the very same gal that he'd robbed and stole for,
naming her wedding day, naming her wedding day.
As he looked at the wall so strong and tall,
I heard him softly curse, "nobody at all
has ever made that wall, but I'm gonna be the first,
I'm gonna be the first."
Well the Warden walked by, said "Son don't try,
cause I'd hate to see you fall -
cause there ain't no doubt we're gonna carry you out
if you ever touch that wall, if you ever touch that wall."
But a year has gone by since he made his try;
I can still recall how hard he tried
and the way he died,
but he never topped the wall, never topped the wall.
Many a man who has shook this can,
and I know a man who tried.
The newspapers called it a jailbreak plan,
but I know it was suicide; I know that it was suicide.
Well I know that I shouldn't have done it
I know it just wasn't right.
Cause they got me backed up to the Cottonmouth river
and I can't cross late at night.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.
Well if I had my life to live over,
I'd've gone to work that day
instead of going into town and shooting him down
for a thing I never heard him say.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.
Well, I'd just made it through the canebreak
and got one foot in the mud.
I can hear the hounds a-bayin'
but the snake around my ankle's telling me
my running days are done.
Yeah, there's lots of stories told about the Cottonmouth river,
they tell them time and again,
about the men who tried to cross that river by moonlight
never were heard from again.