This song was written by Billy Marlowe in 1975 for a play called “The Cage” about the prison experience. It was performed in a small theater in San Francisco by a group of ex-prisoners and Billy would appear during set changes to sing a verse. Although I have thought about this song a lot over the last forty-five years, it wasn’t until June of this year that I felt that the time was ripe to revisit it. I altered one of the verses slightly to make it more relevant to the present time and enlisted the help of good friends, Eamonn Flynn on organ, Paul Olguin on bass and Morris Acevedo on lead guitar. I am deeply indebted to all three of them for contributing such heartfelt performances.
This video is dedicated to the “Black Lives Matter” movement and to the memory of Billy Marlowe.
I hope I got it right.
www.rorymcnamara.com
The Ballad Of Dangerous George.
Words and music ©1974 Billy Marlowe
Cage the killing hawk, you’d better make it stick,
Cover up his eyes, don’t let him see or he’ll take you quick,
There’s a body in the big yard, there’s another killing done,
But there’s hundreds more like George T. Jones, He’s not the only one.
Flashing knives and blood respect, that’s the ritual dance of hate,
If you’re going to die, your line don’t reach to the day side of the gate,
There’s no such thing as justice here when all you’ve got is time,
Top a vengeance with a vengeance, that’s the violence to your crime.
Dead men do tell stories and they walk the ghetto streets,
Many the time the poor man heard the sound of a dead man’s feet,
Jar memories of the keys that played the stone jaw-bone,
But there are hundreds more that don’t mind dying, like George T. Jones.
Truth, it won’t come easy, some will teach and some will learn,
You make a friend, a brother, you hear the truth and you feel it burn,
Would you have it said on the judgment day you were just some jailhouse clown,
And working for the man, when they laid your body down.
Cage the killing hawk, you’d better make it stick,
Cover up his eyes, don’t let him see or he’ll take you quick,
There’s a body in the big yard, there’s another killing done,
But there’s hundreds more like George T. Jones, He’s not the only one.