Very good selections by all; I resolved not to internet cheat on this but I stumbled on this nonetheless, here is one I did not know was a prison-type of song.
9. “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” by the Bee Gees
Released in 1968, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” was the first of the Bee Gees‘ Top 10 hits in the U.S. The song was written by brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb.
“This is about a prisoner on death row who only has a few hours to live,” Robin told The Mail on Sunday. “He wants the prison chaplain to pass on a final message to his wife. There’s a certain urgency about it. Myself and Barry wrote it. It’s a bit like writing a script. Sometimes you can sit there for three hours with your guitar and nothing will happen. Then in the last ten minutes something will spark.”
Robin elaborated in the liner notes of the 1968 album Idea. “It was like acting, you see, we said, let’s pretend that somebody, his life is on the line, somebody’s going to the chair. What would be going through their mind? Let’s not make it doom and gloom but sort of an appeal to the person he loves. Because right now that’s all he cares about. Regardless of whether he’s done a bad thing, he is a human being, and he’s sending out this last message.”
- See more at: http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2017/03/13/top-11-prison-songs/#sthash.tWZdZE0n.dpuf
This article came out only 11 hours ago; so this thread actually beats that.... but I'm resolved not to cheat.
Sam Cooke - Chain Gang. That article also mentions "Back on the Chain Gang" by the Pretenders but doesn't mention this one. So, this is kind of a cheat song; but was a very good one by Sam.
General Penitentiary - reggae, Black Uhuru
Carcel De Cananea - Song of the Mexican Revolution, Miners went on strike, Carcel is jail in Spanish, something like our word for being "incarcerated".
San Quentin - Johnny Cash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsaJ86Gc-i8"Drinking and Driving" - Stonewall Jackson, actually, I think it's pretty decent, dated to the '60s era I'd say.
