They built a prison by the freeway
Just to rub it in
It's a gentle reminder
Of the wages of sin
The ones on the inside
Are being paid their share
There's a hundred stories
For every man in there
There's marks on the cell wall
There's marks on the mem
One counts off the time lost
The other counts till the end

[Chorus]
Jailbirds in the big house
Jailbirds in the sky
Singing of their innocence
They'll sing by and by

Jailbirds in the big house
Jailbirds on a spree
Some of them coulda looked like you
Some of them used to look like me

Teddy was a bad kid
From a bad family tree
He was voted most likely
To commit a felony
And that was just in grade school
After that he disappeared
They say he moved or he dropped out
And he's faded with the years
A red hand in the cookie jar
A foot in potter's field
His face was waiting for a number
His fate was aching to be sealed

[Chorus]

Teddy had a girlfriend
Who gave him a place to stay
But he left with her TV set
And a baby on the way
And if you should run across him
He could shorten your life
With the butt of a pistol
Or the edge of a knife
He'll sing a song of the rock pile
Mourning all he had
All the luck in all the world
And most of it was bad