Prison Song

Cold chills, prison cells
Locked in, bars of steel
Leave my woman tonight
Just ain't feeling right
Cold chills, prison cells

Oh my Lord, praise him be
Cold chills, prison cells
Set your, people free
Locked in, bars of steel
Be merciful to our abusers
Leave my woman tonight
They don't know what they do
Just ain't feeling right

Thinking you lost your senses
Oh my Lord, praise him be
Cold chills, prison cells
What can you do when they...?
Set your, people free
Locked in, bars of steel
Ooh, you better collect your pieces
Be merciful to our abusers
Leave my woman tonight
Freedom, it waits out here
They don't know what they do
Just ain't feeling right

You don't have to go to prison
Oh my Lord, praise him be
Cold chills, prison cells
But will it accomplish you?
Set your, people free
Locked in, bars of steel
Ku Klux Klan, they're laughing
Be merciful to our abusers
Leave my woman tonight
Damning the thought of you
They don't know what they do
Just ain't feeling right

Condemning you to your suffering
Oh my Lord, praise him be
Cold chills, prison cells
Is that what you really want?
Set your, people free
Locked in, bars of steel
Prison, it's all a prison
Be merciful to our abusers
Leave my woman tonight
Marking your time on walls
They don't know what they do
Just ain't feeling right

Think you better change your motto
Oh my Lord, praise him be
Cold chills, prison cells
Wiping away the mourn
Set your, people free
Locked in, bars of steel
There in the bars, let's follow
Be merciful to our abusers
Leave my woman tonight
Tell me your days aren't done
They don't know what they do
Just ain't feeling right

"Vengeance is mine," said the Lord

“Prison Song,” written by playwright Tommy Butler for his 1978 musical Selma, a retelling of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is a song of strength and resilience and faith in the face of senseless and dehumanizing abuse. The song has no clear narrative, and it’s not even entirely clear how the individual lines fit together to form a specific cohesive message. But as with poetry or jazz, the different strains and voices come together to create a meaning that you feel rather than hear. It’s a song about being bone weary and wronged beyond belief and continuing to stand, and it dras on the faith that played such an important role in black activism, not only as a space for organzing but also as a source of strength to carry on. The singers embody the suffering of the crucified Christ who, a blameless victim of the rage of a mob, asked God for mercy for those who persuctued him, for they knew not what they did. The song ends with a powerful statement, made all the more so in the finality of its brevity in contrast to the repetion of the verses, both an encouragement of restraint and an assurance of justice. Vengeance belongs to the Lord alone, but the Lord is on our side and vengeance will come.