An Innocent Man

Writer's Cramp entry 29/9

Prompt ▶︎

David Allan Coe once stated in the song: You don't have to call me by my name that a great country song had to go about:

trains
prison
getting drunk
mama
(not specifically in this order)

​

They said I killed my mama,
Sent me down until I die,
Said all the words against me,
Surely wasn't lies...

Was on a train to nowhere, no point looking back,
On a train to nowhere, burning up the track,
Days were miles between us, but trains are gonna roll,
'Til years all blur together, eating at my soul.

I'm too tired for anger, too worn for to fight,
Gave up on finding answers, on reaching for the light.

Did twenty years in prison, for some other fella's crime,
Waiting for this letter, and pacing out the time,
In ten by eight enclosure, waiting for to land,
This, the Gov'nor's pardon held in warden's hand.

I buried all my feelings, in the bottom of a glass,
Took the offered handshake, gave them all a pass.

So, I'm on a train to nowhere, ain't no looking back,
On a train to nowhere, burning up the track,
Putting miles between us,
Getting drunk on freedom's call,
Heading for a future (...ain't no looking back)
And never going back. (...never going back)

They said I killed my mama...
Did twenty years, or more,
Now I'm on a train to nowhere,
It's all I'm looking for.