Iron Bars and Cold Cement - Lonesome Tom | DELTA BLUES

"Iron Bars and Cold Cement" Lonesome Tom Four walls closing, ceiling pressing down Judge said guilty, Lord, without a sound No window facing east, no window facing west Just iron bars and cold cement and this hollow chest The guard walks slow at three o'clock at night His boots on concrete, Lord, my only light I count the cracks between the stones all day Counting don't make the hours go away Iron bars and cold cement, that's all I own Iron bars and cold cement, this cage my home No letter coming, no footstep at my door Just iron bars and cold cement forevermore They took my belt, my shoelaces, my name Left me a number and a lifetime of shame The man I was walked out that courthouse free The man inside here, Lord, he ain't even me Iron bars and cold cement, that's all I own Iron bars and cold cement, this cage my home No letter coming, no footstep at my door Just iron bars and cold cement forevermore I seen men break in here like dry old wood Dreamed of outside like a man dreams of good The sky's a rumor that I used to know Blue and wide and somewhere I can't go My mama's gone now, died the second year Couldn't make the funeral, couldn't shed a tear Where a man should weep the stone just held it in Cold cement don't care about your sin Yeah, iron bars and cold cement… Lonesome Tom ain't going nowhere… Just the dark and the counting… And the boots upon the stair…