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 slavein' 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

So take me down to the river

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

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

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

That night I often wonder what my tombstone would say

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

The dust has not settled from those boys who busted in

I am not a bad man but there's bullets in my skin

Take me down to the river

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

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Well I killed a man in Birmingham that boy he tried to rob me

I did not want to but I had to show that boy the real me