Straight Time

[Verse 1] Got out of prison back in '86 And I found a wife Walked the clean and narrow Just trying to stay out and stay alive [Verse 2] Got a job at the rendering plant It ain't going to make me rich In the darkness before dinner comes Sometimes I can feel the itch [Chorus] I got a cold mind To go tripping 'cross that thin line I'm sick of doing straight time [Verse 3] My uncle's at the evening table Makes his living running hot cars Slips me a hundred-dollar bill Says, "Charlie, you best remember who your friends are" [Chorus] I got a cold mind To go tripping 'cross that thin line I ain't making straight time [Bridge] Eight years in It feels like you're gonna die But you get used to anything Sooner or later, it just becomes your life [Verse 4] Kitchen floor in the evening Tossing my little babies high Mary's smiling, but she's watching me Always, out the corner of her eye [Verse 5] Seems you can't get Any more than half-free Step out onto the front porch And suck the cold air deep inside of me [Chorus] I got a cold mind To go tripping 'cross that thin line I'm sick of doing straight time [Verse 6] In the basement Hunting gun and a hacksaw Sip a beer and thirteen Inches of barrel drop to the floor [Verse 7] Come home in the evening Can't get the smell from my hands Lay my head down on the pillow And go drifting off into foreign lands