These chains won't keep me from being a free man Doing what I can to get out of here These chains won't keep me from seeing my freedom Changing my name and starting over again I was a fool for a good looking woman Till I found out the hard way there were some other men Now what else could I do? How could anyone blame me? He was standing there smiling with a gun in his hand These chains won't keep me from being a free man Doing what I can to get out of here These chains won't keep me from seeing my freedom Changing my name and starting over again She had a known reputation but I paid no attention Good love and affection can't make anything right The judge had no mercy for my infatuation He said, killing's a sin, boy, you gotta pay the price These chains won't keep me from being a free man Doing what I can to get out of here These chains won't keep me from seeing my freedom Changing my name and starting over again Down the hall there's a window, you can barely see through it Deep in the night I see the lights of town And it started me thinking about a mystical ladder That's as high as these walls and I'm climbing it run by run These chains won't keep me from being a free man Doing what I can to get out of here These chains won't keep me from seeing my freedom Changing my name and starting over again These chains won't keep me from being a free man Doing what I can to get out of here These chains won't keep me from seeing my freedom Changing my name and starting over again These chains won't keep me from starting over again