INTRO: G  Am  D  C  G
  
                                    Am
They built a prison by the freeway
                   D
Just to rub it in

It's a gentle reminder
       C         G
Of the wages of sin


                        Am
The ones on the inside
                            D
Are being paid their share

There's a hundred stories
          C      G
For every man in there


                                Am
There's marks on the cell wall
                          D
There's marks on the men
                 
One counts off the time lost
          C               G      C
The other counts 'til the end


CHORUS:
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      Am
Jailbirds in the sky

Singing of their innocence
        Em           D   C
They'll sing by and by
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      
Jailbirds on a spree
Am
Some of them could'a looked like you
        Em                     D   G
Some of them used to look like me


                            Am
Well, Teddy was a bad kid
                         D
From a bad family tree

He was voted most likely
      C         G 
To commit a felony


                                   Am
And that was just in grade school
                           D
After that he disappeared

They say he moved, or he dropped out
         C                G 
And he's faded with the years


                              Am
A red hand in the cookie jar
                          D
A foot in potter's field

His face was waiting for a number
             C            G         C
His fate was aching to be sealed


CHORUS:
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      Am
Jailbirds in the sky

Singing of their innocence
        Em           D   C
They'll sing by and by
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      
Jailbirds on a spree
Am
Some of them could'a looked like you
        Em                     D   G
Some of them used to look like me


                         
Teddy had a girlfriend
     Am                      D
Who gave him a place to stay

But he left with her TV set
      C            G   
And a baby on the way


                                  Am
And if you should run across him
                             D
He could shorten your life

With the butt of a pistol
       C           G   
Or the edge of a knife


                                    Am
He'll sing a song of the rock pile
                     
Mourning all he had
D
All the luck in all the world
    C              G     C
And most of it was bad


CHORUS:
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      Am
Jailbirds in the sky

Singing of their innocence
        Em           D   C
They'll sing by and by
                            G
Jailbirds in the big house
                      
Jailbirds on a spree
Am
Some of them could'a looked like you
        Em                     D    G
Some of them used to look like me