I walked the line to Folsom Prison,
took some advice from a boy named Sue.
Never found the flesh and blood that I needed,
but at least I'm not in the jailhouse now.

I remember the songs of my childhood,
When daddy always sang bass.
But these days I get so lonely, I just cry, cry, cry.
And seems like every other weekend
It's Sunday morning coming down.

So give my love to Rose. I hated to leave her.
I've done my best to let go of the hurt
and put myself back together one piece at a time.
In the end I got burned by a ring of fire,
but I still never found the Man in Black.

I felt the sharp sting in my back.
I felt the surge of pain up my spine.
I felt my knees buckle to the ground.
I felt the blood drip from the wound.
I felt the tears roll down my eyes.

And when I saw that
you of all people
were the one holding the whip...

I felt the shattering of my heart.

I made a deal with the Devil,
in a play to strike it rich.
Him the puppet, I the master,
but soon the roles were switched.

The money up and vanished,
right before my very eyes.
And the devil, loudly laughing,
Sent brimstone falling from the skies.

Sweat poring down my forehead,
and a most repugnant smell.
The newest slave among the demons,
In the darkest depths of hell.

No reprieve from all the gruntwork,
not a single chance of rain.
Just the Devil's fury,
And a sharp eternal pain.

The smoke forever suffocating,
I don't think I'll ever learn.
I made a deal with the devil
and now I've got to burn.

Let the skill of my hands
Create something unique
And beautiful
Regardless of how impure
The clay may be.

The rules were very simple,
All you had to do was listen.
But now you've gone and put me
in a difficult position.

You think that I enjoy this.
You couldn't be more wrong.
I try to be forgiving,
Now my patience is all but gone.

Don't try and lay this one on me.
You know it isn't true.
You were the match that lit the fire.
Look what you made me do.

You could have saved yourself, my dear
if you had just played by the rules.
But you had to go and break the code,
and then I lost my cool.

If you'd just do what I tell you,
If you'd never raise your voice.
Then it wouldn't have to come to this.
I wouldn't have to make this choice.

Instead, you violated me.
And this hell you put me through?
It could have been avoided.
But look what you made me do.

This prison cannot hold me.
These walls will not contain me.
I cannot be easily classified
I cannot be easily controlled.

My spirit will not tolerate
being confined to a dungeon.
My heart will not tolerate  
any attempts to restrain me.

So try as you may
to fit me into to your mold.

You won't succeed.

You will only be left wondering
how it is
that you underestimated me.

She was beautiful.
She was smart.
She was mine.

But somehow, I let it slip away
before my eyes.

So instead of being the man
I wanted to be.

I'm sitting here in a ***** tonk bar,
drowning my misery,
to the sounds of Jason Aldean.