Back In Durham Gaol

I'm a poor man as honest as they come

I never was a thief before they caught me

The judge said he swore me hands were red

No matter how I ple'd he found me guilty

There was no bail, I'm off to Durham gaol

I'm going and nothing now can save me

Calamities they always come in threes

And that's how many months it was they gave me

Chorus:

And it's no never in the live long day

Will you find me Back In Durham Gaol

No never in the live long day

Will you find me Back In Durham Gaol

'T was a grey day when first I went astray

The divil take the man who came to tempt me

For in no time me life was one of crime

And now you see the trouble that it's got me

There are four bare walls at which to stare

Me food and me lodgings they are paid for

You can't see the turning of the key

To hear the turning that is all you wait for

Chorus

Oh it's sad to say that here I am to stay

With only iron bars around to lean on

I get a cold bath to dampen down me wrath

Though it's barely just a month ago I had one

God knows I need a suit of clothes

You'd think they could have found a one to fit me

Me boots would be fine if they were both a nine

I'm walking like a fall of stones had hit me

Chorus

And I'm sure that me mother's heart would break

To see me in a state of such repentance

I'm glad she's not around to see

And I'll be out before she finishes her sentence

The sun will shine, I'll leave it all behind

Knowing I've done me time and done me duty

Then out of the gate on the narrow and the straight

To the place where I've buried all the booty

Chorus