Foreword Language is the only way to be understood by anyone else, and it is also the reason you cannot fully understand yourself. To say a thing you have to choose a word, the easier word becomes the official one, and the official one is what everybody reads afterward — including you. The record ends up accurate. It is also not you, and there is no procedure for filing the difference. There is no metaphor anywhere in this one. Every image is literal procedure. He gets very good at writing letters that pass. Lyrics [Intro] [Spoken] Docket four one seven. The defendant will rise. The defendant will state, in his own words, what he did. [Verse 1] They stood me in the courthouse an' they read the charges out. The judge leaned down an' ast me what Ah'd done. Ah opened up mah mouth ta say the true an' only thang, an' somethin' easier come out. An' that's the one. They wrote it in the ledger an' they read it back ta me. It wa'nt even close. It was the nearest thang. Ah told 'em it was raht. They wa'nt nothin' else ta say. An' they give me all the years that word could bring. [Chorus] It's name, blame, one claim, took aim, an' they got it written down. It's tell, spell, ink well, dry cell, an' they read it back around. It's tale, jail, no bail, dead mail, an' the rest of it gits drowned. Ah got a sentence, boys, an' Ah'm servin' it out loud. SERVIN' IT OUT LOUD! [Verse 2] Ah write mah mother Sundays an' Ah tell her Ah am fahn. They's a man they call the censor at the do'. He takes his pen an' lays a black bar over half of it. She reads the half. She never ast for mo'. Ah learnt ta write it clean now. They's no black bar on the page. Ah only write the words Ah know'll pass. Twelve years without a mark. She keeps 'em in a box. An' when she comes, we talk on through the glass. [Chorus] It's name, blame, one claim, took aim, an' they got it written down. It's tell, spell, ink well, dry cell, an' they read it back around. It's tale, jail, no bail, dead mail, an' the rest of it gits drowned. Ah got a sentence, boys, an' Ah'm servin' it out loud. SERVIN' IT OUT LOUD! [Bridge] She puts her hand agin the glass an' says she understands. She's read 'em all. She says she's got me raht. They walk me back. The do' locks lahk a do' is meant ta lock. I never told her nothing. And she's right. [Breakdown] COUNT! FOUR ONE SEVEN! COUNT! PRESENT AN' ACCOUNTED FOR! COUNT! FOUR ONE SEVEN! ACCOUNTED FOR! ACCOUNTED FOR! [Verse 3] They called mah name at seven an' they give me back mah coat. They put mah forty dollars in mah hand. The warden said he hoped he'd never see mah face no mo'. Ah told him no sir. An' Ah understand. [Final Chorus] It's name, blame, one claim, took aim, an' they got it written down. It's tell, spell, ink well, dry cell, an' they read it back around. It's tale, jail, no bail, dead mail, an' the rest of it gits drowned. Ah got a sentence, boys, an' Ah'm servin' it out loud. SERVIN' IT OUT LOUD! SERVIN' IT OUT LOUD! [Outro] Gate swung wide. The road was white. An' every mouth in town was movin'.
