I just got sentenced for sinning|In this Podunk town|The crooked judge he was grinnin|But it's too late now|And I ain't trying to justify a single thing I done|But when he dropped that gavel my life unraveled|I'm still trying to pick the pieces up| |Ain't no bars in a prison cell|It's just steel doors, bricks and mortar|Every day gets longer|While my life is getting shorter|And no one seems to recognize that I was good in better days|My only hope is to make parole|But that seems so far away| |My life ain't my own no more because I've gone astray|Alone in my cell, I talk to myself and I say|I need redemption|Some self-correction|Because I've learnt my lesson|I'm gonna change my way|I'll walk the straight and narrow|Fly free like a sparrow|On my knees for prayer though|My only hope is faith|Is there a song for me though I've never been a saint|A sinner's serenade| |I know it could be worse|I've seen some folks|That'll be here when they die|I've seen the hardest criminals break down and cry|But for me I'm just counting down every single day|They come and go but no one knows|Just how much I've changed| |These men and women judging me|All they are seeing is my past|Everyone is so skeptical|Wondering if the good in me will last|I've only got half-an-hour to make them see|That parole would do more good|Than these chains around my feet