The Ballad of Donald White Peter Amberley - Bonnie Dobson - as sung by Bob Dylan My name is Donald White, you see, I stand before you all I was judged by you a murderer and the hangman’s knot must fall I will die upon the gallows’s pole when the moon is shinin’ clear And these are my final words that you will ever hear If I had some education to gimme a decent start I might have been a doctor or a master in the arts But I used my hands for stealin’ when I was very young And they locked me down in jailhouse cells that’s how my life begun Well, the inmates and the prisoners, I found they were my kind And it was there inside the bars, I found my peace of mind But the jails they were to crowded, institutions overflowed So they turned me loose to walk upon life’s hurried tangled road There’s a danger on the ocean where the salt sea waves split high There’s a danger on the battlefield where the shells of bullets fly There’s a danger in this open world where men fight to be free But for me the greatest danger was in society So I asked them to send me back to the institution home But they said they were to crowded, for me they had no room I got down on my knees and begged: Oh please put me away! But they would not listen to my plea as if nothing I would say And so it was on Christmas eve in the year of fifty-nine It was on that night I killed a man, I did not try to hide The jury found me guilty, and I won’t disagree For I knew that it would happen if I wasn’t put away And I’m glad I’ve had no parents to care for me and cry For now they will never know the horrible death I die And I’m also glad I’ve had no friends to see me in disgrace For they’ll never see that hangman’s hood wrap around my face Farewell unto the old north woods of which I used to roam Farewell unto the crowded bars of which have been my home Farewell to all you people who think the worst of me I guess you feel much better when I’m on that hangin’ tree But there is just one more question before they kill me dead I’m wond’rin’ just how much I really said Concerning all they come down the road like me Are they enemies or victims of your society?   alles-uke.de