Started hitch hiking from San Francisco down to L.A.
And I, I met this man giving me a ride
Amd finally got me by my side said, "Hey son have a dime."
I say, "Thank you" and he was on his way
So I got down in the big cities and I was trying to get myself a job

But there wasn't no jobs around
I couldn't seem to find anyway to make guineas
And this man at the gas station, he says,
"Son you need yourself a job?" and I said "Mr. I surely do."
He said "Welcome in, I give you a dollar and a 1/4 an hour"
That's sure good handling that time

So I worked in the gas station for a while
And I got myself a Plymouth mobile, yes I did
That was comin' on pretty good up to one day
I kind of let down on my lovin' down for a 1/4 an hour
Couldn't go far out working overtime I need a lot of money
That lot of money I don't know what to do

So I met one of these guys who'd walk around in the neighborhood
Behind this other gas station we figure we'd check it out pretty good
So we decided we're gonna rob this gas station
Because there was no other way ot get no money
And then one night when there was no one around
We went over there on that side of town
And we broke into that gas station and we robbed the cash register
And just at that time we're making our escape
Here come a policeman walking up the street
He yelled "Halt!" and we got scared we threw the money up in the air
We started running and he started too
He's hollering "halt!" and then he began to shoot. I was lucky I got over a fence
My other friend made it around the corner, but my other buddy he went down

And Michael you should have stopped when the man told you
Because if that bullet wouldn't have hit you
You would have been living and what I'm trying to say now
Is that if you find yourself in a situation
Where you could get killed or you could live, Live if you cried

He didn't have to go down if he were to stop
We had some pride wouldn't let him quit that runnin'
But now Michael's in the ground. Michael why did you keep on runnin'?
Michael your pride done got you killed
You should have knowed that cop had a pistol on his side
Why didn't you stop before you was killed