Starkville City Jail
Composer(s): Johnny Cash
First recording/First release by: Johnny Cash - 1969



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 two a.m."

They're bound to get you
'Cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City jail

Well, they threw me in the car and started driving into town
I said: "What the hell did I do?" 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..." "Awe shut up" 
Well, I sure was in a fix

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

I started pacin' back and forth, and now and then I'd yell
And kick my forty dollar shoes against the steel floor of my cell
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile, and all night nobody came

Then I sadly remembered that they didn't even take my name
At 8 a.m. they let me out 
I said: "Gimme 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