I'm Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail

(album: Soul Of A Convict & Other Great Prison Songs - 1967)

(Yes warden) I'm just here to get my baby out of jail
I'm not in your town to stay said a lady old and gray
To the warden of the penitentiary
I'm not in your town to stay and I'll soon be on my way
I'm just here to get my baby out of jail

(Yes warden) I'm just here to get my baby out of jail
I tried to raise baby right and I prayed both day and night
That he wouldn't follow the footsteps of his dad
And I've searched both far and wide and I'd feared that he had died
But at last I found my baby here in jail

(Yes warden) you know I want my baby out of jail
I will pawn you my watch and I'll pawn you my chain
I will pawn you my golden wedding band
I will wash all your clothes and I'll scrub all your floors
If that will get my baby out of jail

(Yes warden) you know I want my baby out of jail
Then I heard the warden say to the lady so old and gray
I'll bring your darling boy to your side
Then two big iron gates swung wide apart she held her darling to her heart
In the arms of her boy boy she died

(A smiling) in the arms of her dear boy there she died