Richard A Thackeray
Legendary Member
My name is Billy Austin
I'm Twenty-Nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told
Don't remember Oklahoma
Been so long since I left home
Seems like I've always been in prison
Like I've always been alone
Didn't mean to hurt nobody
Never thought I'd cross that line
I held up a filling station
Like I'd done a hundred times
The kid done like I told him
He lay face down on the floor
Guess I'll never know what made me
Turn and walk back through that door
The shot rang out like thunder
My ears rang like a bell
No one came runnin'
So I called the cops myself
Took their time to get there
And I guess I could'a run
I knew I should be feeling something
But I never shed tear one
I didn't even make the papers
'Cause I only killed one man
But my trial was over quickly
And then the long hard wait began
Court appointed lawyer
Couldn't look me in the eye
He just stood up and closed his briefcase
When they sentenced me to die
Now my waitin's over
As the final hour drags by
I ain't about to tell you
That I don't deserve to die
But there's twenty-seven men here
Mostly black, brown and poor
Most of em are guilty
Who are you to say for sure?
So when the preacher comes to get me
And they shave off all my hair
Could you take that long walk with me
Knowing hell is waitin' there
Could you pull that switch yourself sir
With a sure and steady hand
Could you still tell youself
That you're better than I am
My name is Billy Austin
I'm twenty-nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xad0Qyu__cE
The first time I saw Carrie Brown
She was so young and fair
A voice like spring rain fallin' down and sunlight in her hair
I'd never seen her face before so I asked all around
Her daddy owns a grocery store and she lives in Bristol town
Carrie darlin' Carrie Carrie Brown I cry
If I can't marry Carrie Brown believe I'd rather die
I laid my last ten dollars down
Though I didn't need a thing
Just to touch sweet Carrie Brown
When she handed me my change
I hung around 'till closin' time I scarce believed my eyes
My darlin' walkin' arm in arm
With a boy named Billy Wise
I walked around in Bristol town a bitter broken man
A heart that pined for Carrie Brown and a pistol in my hand
We met again on State Street poor Billy Wise and me
I shot him in Virginia and he died in Tennessee
Now I'm down in the Bristol jail and all I do is cry
'Cause the jury found me guilty and the judge says I must die
I'm just a poor young mountain boy
Ain't never been to town
And I've come to ruination for the love of Carrie Brown
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qngIMw1kO4w
I'm Twenty-Nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told
Don't remember Oklahoma
Been so long since I left home
Seems like I've always been in prison
Like I've always been alone
Didn't mean to hurt nobody
Never thought I'd cross that line
I held up a filling station
Like I'd done a hundred times
The kid done like I told him
He lay face down on the floor
Guess I'll never know what made me
Turn and walk back through that door
The shot rang out like thunder
My ears rang like a bell
No one came runnin'
So I called the cops myself
Took their time to get there
And I guess I could'a run
I knew I should be feeling something
But I never shed tear one
I didn't even make the papers
'Cause I only killed one man
But my trial was over quickly
And then the long hard wait began
Court appointed lawyer
Couldn't look me in the eye
He just stood up and closed his briefcase
When they sentenced me to die
Now my waitin's over
As the final hour drags by
I ain't about to tell you
That I don't deserve to die
But there's twenty-seven men here
Mostly black, brown and poor
Most of em are guilty
Who are you to say for sure?
So when the preacher comes to get me
And they shave off all my hair
Could you take that long walk with me
Knowing hell is waitin' there
Could you pull that switch yourself sir
With a sure and steady hand
Could you still tell youself
That you're better than I am
My name is Billy Austin
I'm twenty-nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xad0Qyu__cE
The first time I saw Carrie Brown
She was so young and fair
A voice like spring rain fallin' down and sunlight in her hair
I'd never seen her face before so I asked all around
Her daddy owns a grocery store and she lives in Bristol town
Carrie darlin' Carrie Carrie Brown I cry
If I can't marry Carrie Brown believe I'd rather die
I laid my last ten dollars down
Though I didn't need a thing
Just to touch sweet Carrie Brown
When she handed me my change
I hung around 'till closin' time I scarce believed my eyes
My darlin' walkin' arm in arm
With a boy named Billy Wise
I walked around in Bristol town a bitter broken man
A heart that pined for Carrie Brown and a pistol in my hand
We met again on State Street poor Billy Wise and me
I shot him in Virginia and he died in Tennessee
Now I'm down in the Bristol jail and all I do is cry
'Cause the jury found me guilty and the judge says I must die
I'm just a poor young mountain boy
Ain't never been to town
And I've come to ruination for the love of Carrie Brown
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qngIMw1kO4w
