July the second, it was nineteen sixty-three
I was servin' time for armed robbery
Four o'clock in the mornin', I was layin' back in my cell
I heard the whistle blow then I heard somebody yell
CHORUS:
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Up in cell block number 9
The trouble started down in cell block number 4
Spread like fire across the prison floor
I said, "Okay now boys, get ready to run
Here come the warden with an tommy gun"
[CHORUS]
Y'all gotta stop that stuff goin' on over there
If ya don't stop that riot, y'all gonna get the chair
Scar-face Jones said, "It's too late to quit"
Pass the dynamite 'cause the fuse is lit
[CHORUS]
In the forty-seventh hour the tear gas
It got our men
We are all back in our cells
But every now and then
[CHORUS]
I was servin' time for armed robbery
Four o'clock in the mornin', I was layin' back in my cell
I heard the whistle blow then I heard somebody yell
CHORUS:
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Up in cell block number 9
The trouble started down in cell block number 4
Spread like fire across the prison floor
I said, "Okay now boys, get ready to run
Here come the warden with an tommy gun"
[CHORUS]
Y'all gotta stop that stuff goin' on over there
If ya don't stop that riot, y'all gonna get the chair
Scar-face Jones said, "It's too late to quit"
Pass the dynamite 'cause the fuse is lit
[CHORUS]
In the forty-seventh hour the tear gas
It got our men
We are all back in our cells
But every now and then
[CHORUS]