I remember when I first went to school

They said, Don't be a joker, don't be a fool

Pledge your allegiance to the red, white and blue

Don't expect your country to do nothin' for you

They said your forefathers loved you

but I only had one

And I watched him die in the heat of the sun

Suckin' up the bullets of a policeman's gun

There was nothin' I could do but stay away



In the U.S.A. you gotta take your chances

If you plan on stayin' free

They call this the land of the living 

But they're trying to make a dead man out of me



I remember when I first hit the road

I was runnin' from the lenders of the money I owed

Came to Austin, heard a knock at my door

Crossed another border and I'm runnin' some more

They say they're gonna get me but it ain't happened yet

Burnin' my fingers on my last cigarette

It's time to remember time to forget

Nothin' I could do but get away



I remember all the stories I heard

How a man's supposed to be 'bout as free as a bird

My brother's in prison, my father's dead

Me, I'm tired of living with a price on my head

I wonder if there's a place to be

In the whole wide country for a fella like me

Name's in the paper, face on T.V.

Nothin'I can do but get away