Archie Noble - The Balladeer

My name means nothing
Yet I stand here today
You judge me a murderer
And send me to my grave
I'll die upon the gallows
When the moon is clear
And these are my last words
That you will ever hear

When I first left my home
I was so very young
And I had no parents
To tell me when I'd done wrong
No matter how far I went
I never made a friend
I could never get along
With the people that I met

If I'd had some education
To give me some start
Then I might have been a doctor
Or a master in the arts
But I turned to stealing
When I was so young
And they locked me away
That's how my life begun

The people in the prisons
I found they were my kind
And in those walls
I found peace of mind
But the prisons became crowded
So they let me go
To struggle on the outside
With no friends and no home

And there's danger on the oceans
Where the waves crash high
And there's danger on the battlefields
Where the fast bullets fly
There's danger in the world
Wherever you may be
The thing that scared me most
Was to be living free

I asked them to send me back
To my prison home
But they said they were too crowded
And for me they had no room
I begged and I pleaded
Please put me away
But they wouldn't listen
To what I had to say

And so one Christmas eve
With nobody by my side
On that night I killed a man
And did not try to hide
The judge found me guilty
I did not disagree
For I knew it would happen
Sooner or later to me

And I'm glad I had no family
To care for me or cry
For now they'll never know
The death that I die
And I'm glad I had no friends
To visit me around
For they'll never see me
In that cold cold ground

Farewell to the prisons
That I called my home
Farewell to the streets
That I used to roam
And farewell to you people
That think so bad of me
I hope you'll feel better
When there's nothing left of me

But there's one question
That I've left to ask
I'm wondering if I'll
Be the last
Of all of the people
That turn out like me
Are they enemies or victims
Of your society

Written by:
Archie Noble, Bob Dylan

Publisher:
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid

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