Just two years an' seven days   Between me an' legal age   Just one clerk in that liquor store   Between me an' that front door      My coat had deep pockets   An' he probably had a gun   Well, I reckon he was watchin' 'cause he said   "Son, that'll get you one"      "One year pickin' up trash on the highway   One phone call to hear your momma's heartbreak   If you think it's worth it, don't let me stop you, son   'Cause that'll get you one"      She had a beer in her hand, she was comin' on strong   An' I was just this close to takin' her home   Things were lookin' good when we left that bar   Till she stopped an' said, "That's my car"      That's when I saw the sticker   That said, 'Franklin County High'   Well, I didn't even kiss the girl goodbye   'Cause that'll get you five      Five years bustin' up rocks on the chain gang   Pound in' and a bang straight plates in the same sink   Wonderin' if I'm ever gonna make it out alive      An' those tan breaks might get me thinkin' 'bout a jailbreak   Askin' my mom to slip a file in my bun cake   Those bloodhounds'd probably haul me back in   An' that's another ten      Boss man climbin' down my back   Won't cut me one inch of slack   'Tween that steel beam an' the ground below   It'd be a nasty fall if the wind should blow      I don't see a witness an' we're up here awful high   If he should lose his balance   He might not survive   But that'd get you life      Pumpin' that iron with the boys on the cell-block   Tyin' my soap to a rope so it don't drop   An' some ol' boy thinks my biceps look nice      Writin' to the governor an' beggin' for a pardon   Thinkin', "That's how Merle Haggard got started"   Swappin' cigarettes for momma's apple pie      Lookin' through the glass an' talkin' to my lawyer   Memorizing Moby Dick an' Tom Sawyer   Tellin' the parole board, I learned wrong from right   Yeah, that'd get you life, yeah, that'd get you life