I remember when I first went to school   They said, Don't be a joker, don't be a fool   Pledge your allegiance to the red, white and blue   Don't expect your country to do nothin' for you   They said your forefathers loved you   but I only had one   And I watched him die in the heat of the sun   Suckin' up the bullets of a policeman's gun   There was nothin' I could do but stay away      In the U.S.A. you gotta take your chances   If you plan on stayin' free   They call this the land of the living    But they're trying to make a dead man out of me      I remember when I first hit the road   I was runnin' from the lenders of the money I owed   Came to Austin, heard a knock at my door   Crossed another border and I'm runnin' some more   They say they're gonna get me but it ain't happened yet   Burnin' my fingers on my last cigarette   It's time to remember time to forget   Nothin' I could do but get away      I remember all the stories I heard   How a man's supposed to be 'bout as free as a bird   My brother's in prison, my father's dead   Me, I'm tired of living with a price on my head   I wonder if there's a place to be   In the whole wide country for a fella like me   Name's in the paper, face on T.V.   Nothin'I can do but get away