Crime for Crime

big day has come
the bell is sounding
I run my hands through my hair
one last time
and outside the prizon walls
the town is gathering
people are trading
crime for crime

everyone needs to see the prizoner
they need to make it even easier
they see me as a symbol
not a human bieng
that way they can kill me
say it's not murder it's a metaphor
we are killing off our own failure
and starting clean

standing at the gallows
everyone turn my way
I hear a voice ask me
if I've got any last word to say
I'm looking out over
the field of familiar eyes
somewhere in a woman's arms
a baby cries

and I say guilt and innocence
they are a matter of degree
what is justice to you
might not be justice to me
I went to far and I'm sorry
I guess now I'm going home
so let he amongst you
cast the first stone

now-a-days we have all kinds of
complicated machines
so no one person
ever has to have blood on their hands
we have complex organizations
where everyone just does their job
no one person ever has to stand

yeah you might be the wrong color
yeah you might just be too poor
justice isn't something
just anyone can afford
yeah you might not pull a trigger
you might be out on in the car
you might get lethal injection
cause we take metaphors this far

the big day has dawned
and the bell is sounding
and I run my hand through my hair
one last time
outside the prizon walls
the town has gathered
people are trading
crime for crime