Lyrics Crime For Crime

the big day has come
and the bell is sounding
i run my hands thru my hair
one last time
outside the prison walls
the town is gathering
the people are trading
crime for crime

everyone needs to see the prisoner
they need to make it even easier
by seeing me as a symbol
and not a human being
that way they can kill me and say
it's not murder it's a metaphor
we are killing off our own failure
and starting clean

i am standing at the gallows
everyone turned my way
and i hear a voice ask me
if i've got any last words to say
i am looking out over
a field of familiar eyes
somewhere in a woman's arms
a baby cries

i say guilt and innocence
are a matter of degree
and what is justice to you
might not be justice to me
i went too far and i'm sorry
i guess now i'm going home
so let he amongst you
cast the first stone

nowadays we have all kinds of
complicated machines
so no one person
ever has to have blood on their hands
we have complex organizations
and if everyone just does their job
no one person ever has to understand

you might be the wrong color
you might just be too poor
justice isn't something
just anyone can afford
you might not pull the trigger
you might be out in the car
and you might get a lethal injection
'cuz we take metaphors that far

the big day has come
and the bell is sounding
i run my hands thru my hair
one last time
outside the prison walls
the town is gathering
the people are trading
crime for crime
the people are trading
crime for crime
people are still trading
crime for crime