My name is Billy Austin   I'm Twenty-Nine years old   I was born in Oklahoma   Quarter Cherokee I'm told   Don't remember Oklahoma   Been so long since I left home   Seems like I've always been in prison   Like I've always been alone   Didn't mean to hurt nobody   Never thought I'd cross that line   I held up a filling station   Like I'd done a hundred times   The kid done like I told him   He lay face down on the floor   guess I'll never know what made me   Turn and walk back through that door   The shot rang out like thunder   My ears rang like a bell   No one came runnin'   So I called the cops myself   Took their time to get there   And I guess I could'a run   I knew I should be feeling something   But I never shed tear one   I didn't even make the papers   'Cause I only killed one man   but my trial was over quickly   And then the long hard wait began   Court appointed lawyer   Couldn't look me in the eye   He just stood up and closed his briefcase   When they sentenced me to die   Now my waitin's over   As the final hour drags by   I ain't about to tell you   That I don't deserve to die   But there's twenty-seven men here   Mostly black, brown and poor   Most of em are guilty   Who are you to say for sure?   So when the preacher comes to get me   And they shave off all my hair   Could you take that long walk with me   Knowing hell is waitin' there   Could you pull that switch yourself sir   With a sure and steady hand   Could you still tell youself   That you're better than I am   My name is Billy Austin   I'm twenty-nine years old   I was born in Oklahoma   Quarter Cherokee I'm told