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