Simon N
Ballad of Reading Jail
I walked out the door at seventeen
I thought I had nothing to lose
But then I couldn’t come back
Cause I felt I brought bad news
I sat on through the night
Waiting up for the rising sun
I drank and drank and hoped
My life would just be done
Where I come from it’s a joke
With parents selling crack
From the open front door
While the kids play out the back
We go from cradle to street
To a cell or an early tomb
And the girls ain’t no angels
In the teenage baby boom
I ended up in prison
And I thought my life was wrecked
They took my possessions
But not my spirit or my respect
Dear Mum read these lines
You know where I am
Locked up in a cell
The man with the plan
When I was young we were close
I never meant to make you sad
Your eldest will be back
With all the promise he had.