Hello friends! I wrote this today from a series of articles in the newspaper. No names of course. Sorry for the long length. I hope you will find it interesting. It's blues so no chorus or bridge. I am pairing the verses for the sake of space. A bit of explanation: The electric chair is called "Yellow Mama" here in Alabama. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read.

Yellow Mama Blues

Intro: (Spoken)
Way down south in Alabama
Holman Prison's got a chair
They all call it Yellow Mama
When you walk that last mile...
She's waitin' there


Got a date with Yellow Mama
Twelve-oh-one on Friday morn
Guess she's had her eye on me
Since the day that I was born
Been doin' time on Death Row
In these walls for fourteen years
Yellow Mama gonna buy me
A one-way ticket outta here

Didn't care too much for schoolin'
Never learned to read or write
Livin' on the wrong side
Hard luck waitin' all my life
Walked hand in hand with trouble
Been that way since God knows when
Stuck closer than a brother
Trouble was my only friend

Couldn't stand to see my woman
Happy with another man
Shot 'em both in cold blood
Killed one more before I ran
Swam across that muddy river
Two hard weeks lived off the land
Because I needed money
Saw my chance and killed again

Caught up with me in Gainesville
On the run for forty days
Worked them sheriffs overtime
Most wanted man in seven states
Had me some decent lawyers
But that jury wouldn't budge
Got tried and convicted
A dozen people and a judge

Can't blame my home or family
They all did the best they could
Sometimes a man just goes bad
Guess my Daddy understood
Can't say if I'm really sorry
I'm a stranger to regret
When they strap me in that chair
Ol' Yellow Mama won't forget

Too late for me Sweet Jesus
Ol' Yellow Mama wants my soul
Though I never really knew you
Have mercy when my body's cold
Don't know what I'll see there
Over on the other side
If even hell don't want me
Ol' Yellow Mama knows she tried

(Tag)
Yellow Mama ain't no lady
Gonna feel her power to the bone
Paper's gonna call it justice
Twelve-oh-one on Friday morn




[This message has been edited by bama43 (edited 06-28-2001).]