Birmingham (YouTube Version)

[Verse 1]

Well I killed a man in Birmingham

I hit him with a tire iron

He did not move and I do not give a damn

I've been working here like a slave mule

Sucking the earth of dry crude

Looking for a way out of it all

Cops are coming

I can feel 'em here

My back is crawling with standing hair

Wouldn’t mind to see a few pigs fall

[Chorus]

So take me down to the river

With my blood all on the floor

'Cause I don't know if I can carry this weight much longer anymore

Take me up the mountain

On a cloud bound for the sky

Don't go prayin' for me because tonight I'm prepared to die

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 2]

At night I often wonder what my tombstone would say

Would they mention any of my good or just the evil in my days?

That night out there in Birmingham

That boy, he tried to rob me

I did not want to, but I had to

Show that boy the real me

[Chorus]

Take me down to the river

With my blood all on the floor

'Cause I don't know if I can carry this weight much longer anymore

Take me up the mountain

On a cloud bound for the sky

Don't go prayin' for me because tonight I'm prepared to die

[Post-Chorus]

Oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh

[Verse 3]

The dust has now settled

On those boys who busted in

I am not a bad man

But there's bullets in my skin

[Chorus]

So take me down to the river

With my blood all on the floor

'Cause I don't know if I can carry this weight much longer anymore

Take me up the mountain

On a cloud bound for the sky

Don't go prayin' for me because tonight I'm prepared to die