In 2015, my music partner Dale Poune and I created a music program at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California. We worked with level 4 20 to life inmates who were so grateful for the program that we never experienced one moment of fear. The program was and is highly successful and popular. Dale is still teaching there. I wrote this song for those inmates and for any of the rest of us who might find ourselves in it.
Boy, the life you chose you thought would be so easy
Turned out to be a one way dead end road
You turn your back on every constellation
And always pick the longest way to go
You've broken every promise that you'd made, boy
And every heart that ever dared to care
You've walked away from every friend and lover
Too hard to let your guard down anywhere
Like a tumbleweed out on some windy highway
We are on the left hand side of wrong
Ain't no bridges left to burn
No way to stop, nowhere to turn
I'll bet you think there's no one you can call
Just remember when you finally hit that wall
Jesus was an outlaw after all
Jesus was an outlaw after all
Now the preacher could not reach you
And the church has let you down
And you've told yourself believers are all fools
Cause who could ever understand
The dog that's bitten every hand
Or the rebel who was born to break the rules
Here you are, a long way down the road, boy
Half the man you'd ever thought you'd be
With youth and promise on your side
Could've been an easy ride
But you lost it all to the hard life on the street
Like a tumbleweed out on some windy highway
We are on the left hand side of wrong
Ain't no bridges left to burn
No way to stop, nowhere to turn
I'll bet you think there's no one left to call
Just remember when you finally hit that wall
Jesus was an outlaw after all
Jesus was an outlaw after all
Jesus died an outlaw after all
