A-breakin' rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I needed money 'cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I left my baby and it feels so bad
I guess my race is run
She's the best girl I've ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

Robbing people with a six-gun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I miss my baby and-a good fun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

I left my baby and it feels so bad
I guess my race is run
Well she's the best girl I've ever had
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won

- The Bobby Fuller Four
"I Fought the Law"
I Fought the Law (1965)

Another good song with a similar tone is "Never Picked Cotton" by Bobby George and Charles William, (Ed note: Someone get those folks a last name, stat) and I learned it from Johnny Cash:

Well I never picked cotton
Like my mother did
And my brother did
And my sister did
And my daddy died young
Working in a coal mine

When I was just a baby
Too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt
While the others worked
'Til they couldn't straighten up their backs
And I made myself a promise
When I was old enough to run
That I'd never stay
A single day
In that Oklahoma sun

And I never picked cotton
Like my mother did
And my brother did
And my sister did
And my daddy died young
Working in a coal mine

Folks said I grew up early
And the farm couldn't hold me then
So I stole ten bucks
And a pickup truck
And never went back again.
It was fast cars and whiskey
Long legged girls and fun
I had everything
That money could bring
And I took it all with a gun

And I never picked cotton
Like my mother did
And my brother did
And my sister did
And my daddy died young
Working in a coal mine

It was Saturday night in Memphis
When a redneck grabbed my shirt
He said "Go back
To your cotton sack"
I left him lying in the dirt
And they'll take me in the morning
To those gallows just outside
And in the time that I've got
There ain't a hell of a lot
That I can look back on with pride

But I never picked cotton
Like my mother did
And my brother did
And my sister did
And my daddy died young
Working in a coal mine

--
-Pasha
One of the two times that I've been drunk enoughconvinced to sing karaoke it was an obscure Johnny Cash tune.

LAST EDITED ON May-27-11 AT 02:37 PM (EDT)
 
Both of which reminded me of this:

(edit: bloody netbooks...)

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

- Tennessee Ernie Ford, "Sixteen Tons"
Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST

Wow. Songs I actually know?! What is this madness?

>Wow. Songs I actually know?! What is this madness?

Trailers for sale or rent
Rooms to let, 50 cents
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes, ah, but
Two hours of pushing broom buys an
8-by-12 four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road

Third boxcar, midnight train
Destination Bangor, Maine*
Old worn-out suit and shoes
I don't pay no union dues
I smoke old stogies I have found
Short but not too big around
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road

I know every engineer on every train
All their children and all of their names
And every handout in every town
Every lock that ain't locked when no one's around, I sing
Trailers for sale or rent
Rooms to let, 50 cents
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes, ah but
Two hours of pushing broom buys an
8-by-12 four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road

Trailers for sale or rent
Rooms to let, 50 cents
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes, ah but
Two hours of pushing broom buys an
8-by-12 four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road...

- Roger Miller
"King of the Road"
The Return of Roger Miller (1965)

* Like almost everyone who isn't from the immediate vicinity of Bangor, Roger pronounces Bangor wrong. It's actually BANG-gor. Like Bangalore, only without the "al". Please note that I make no warranty as to how the locals pronounce the ones in Wales, Washington state etc.

Also, if your only option at midnight is a freight train heading for Bangor, Maine, son, you are fucked even by hobo standards.

>Like almost everyone who isn't from the immediate vicinity
>of Bangor, Roger pronounces Bangor wrong. It's actually
>BANG-gor. Like Bangalore, only without the "al". Please note that I
>make no warranty as to how the locals pronounce the ones in Wales,
>Washington state etc.

...how the hell *else* would one pronounce that? BAN-gor? Sheesh, that's like the people around here who keep saying 'KA-brill-oh'* instead of 'kah-bree-oh'

>Also, if your only option at midnight is a freight train heading for
>Bangor, Maine, son, you are fucked even by hobo standards.

"Just remember, no matter what your problem, heading off to BFE Northern Nevada is never, ever a good solution" Elizabeth Bear

--
-Pasha
The best ever was someone from the South, who said "cab-reel-er" I mean, wtf?

>
>>Like almost everyone who isn't from the immediate vicinity
>>of Bangor, Roger pronounces Bangor wrong. It's actually
>>BANG-gor. Like Bangalore, only without the "al". Please note that I
>>make no warranty as to how the locals pronounce the ones in Wales,
>>Washington state etc.
>
>...how the hell *else* would one pronounce that? BAN-gor?

Persons "from away" nearly always, as e.g. on the rare occasions when the city makes the national news, say "Banger", rhymes with "hanger", as in the British slang for a beat-up old car or a breakfast link sausage. (Indeed, that's how Roger Miller pronounces it in "King of the Road".) The only time I can think of that I've heard it pronounced right in the mass media was in the "Bad Medicine in Bangor" episode of City Confidential, which is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that it was narrated by the late Paul Winfield - rather a higher-than-average standard of narration.

Although, now that you mention it, BAN-gor (or even BAN-gaaw) used to be the way local people who wanted to sound folksy said it. There were a few Old-Timey Television Personalities in town (the late Eddie Driscoll at Channel 2 comes to mind) who said it that way when delivering the station's address for write-in contests and whatnot.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

...and you, sir, have just made my day. I haven't heard that song in forever.