Cell block five, how I hate Bromide

With your coffee in the morning makes you so sterile

The corner gang never made a man of me boys



You know the walls are taller and the inmates scheme

There's no one here that's more than seventeen

Bet your life there's a riot tonight in the mess hall



A letter from your home town makes you sad

You read it when the warden's had a second laugh

He said sentimental rubbish ain't got no place in here boy



See the years roll on by 

such a senseless waste of time

What a way to reform 

Call out your number 

who's a nonconformer 



Shakey Brown didn't hang around 

When a Molotov didn't do its stuff

He went back in there and said it with a sawed-off shotgun



You know Poker Sam couldn't lose a hand

If he did you was hit by a downtown tram

Or crushed in the path of a moving elevator



See the years roll on by 

such a senseless waste of time

What a way to reform 

Call out your number 

who's a nonconformer



When I get out  I'll get straight

If this old world gives me half a break

But, if you see me in the corner with a chip on my shoulder

Don't blame me