Growing up in Birmingham
middle of the state in Alabam
High on speed but short on plans
to get out of here
2 years in jail of my 18
in the slammer and acting mean
Convinced that I was going straight to hell
Got loose with a siren cry
snow was falling on the city lights
7 inches the first night
my hands as cold as stone
Hopped a train and turned my back
fell asleep with the clicking tracks
I'd take a bullet or a heart attack
before I went back there
No time to catch my breath or say a prayer
Chorus:
I went in a lamb I'll go out a lion
Walking a fine line between living and dying
I shot that man before he did me
They locked me up and they lost the key
And I don't think no one will be crying
If I'm living or dying
I hit Texas in a couple of days
Mexico was just a mile away
You cross the Rio and you know what they say
there's no turning ‘round
Fell in with a Mexican gang
took the place of the man who was hanged
The Federalese shouldn't do that thing
but they killed him away
Home got a little further away
Chorus
I've been here for 20 years
Liked the senoritas and Mexican beer
Bought a little farm and a couple of steer
and I worked the land
Running weed cross the border line
keeps the money flowing for me and mine
But the older I get the deeper the lines
running through my face
20 years been living without a trace
Chorus