Starkville City Jail

[Intro]
Wrote a song yesterday
I tried, it takes a lot of imagination sometimes to write a song
And to really, really put something into it where somebody else can understand it and feel it
We've been in several prisons
San Quentin and Folsom Prison and the Starkville, Mississippi jail
And the El Paso jail, and, uh
You wouldn't believe it, one night, I got in jail in Starkville, Mississippi for picking flowers
I was walkin' down the street, I may sing that one for you a little bit later on, I was walkin' down the street, what?
Excuse me, I couldn't hear you, I was talking
I was walkin' down the street and, uh
You know, goin' to get me some cigarettes or something
About two o'clock in the morning after a show, I think it was
Anyway, I reached down to pick a dandelion here and a daisy here as I went along, and this car pulls up
Said, "Get it the hell in here, boy, what are you doing?"
I said, "I'm just pickin' flowers," well
Thirty-six dollars for picking flowers and a night in jail
Goddamn, you can't hardly win, can you? Damn
No tellin' what you'd do if you pull an apple or something
Well, I'd like to do this song on behalf of all you guys here at San Quentin to kind of get back at whoever you want to out there
In my case, I'd like to get back at the fella down in Starkville, Mississippi that still has my thirty-six dollars

[Verse 1]
Well, I left my motel room down at the Starkville Motel
The town had gone to sleep and I was feelin' fairly well
I strolled along the sidewalk 'neath the sweet magnolia trees
I was whistlin', pickin' flowers, swayin' in the southern breeze
I found myself surrounded, one policeman said, "That's him
Come along, wild flower child, don't you know that it's 2 AM?"
They're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail

[Verse 2]
Well, they threw me in the car and started driving into town
I said, "What the hell did I do?" and he said, "Shut up and sit down"
Well, they emptied out my pockets, took my pills and guitar picks
I said, "Wait, my name is," "Aw, shut up," well, I sure was in a fix

[Verse 3]
The sergeant put me in a cell, then he went home for the night
I said, "Come back here, you so-and-so, I ain't bein' treated right
Well, they're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail

[Verse 4]
I started pacing back and forth, and now and then, I'd yell
And kick my forty-dollar shoes against the steel door of my cell
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile, and all night, nobody came
Then I sadly remembered they didn't even take my name

[Verse 5]
At 8 AM, they let me out, I said, "Give me them things of mine"
They gave me a sneer and a guitar pick and a yellow dandelion
They're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail
And you go to the Starkville City Jail