Riot In Cell Block Number Nine

On July second 1953

I was serving time for armed robbery

About four in the morning

I was sleeping in my cell

I heard a whistle blow

I heard somebody yell

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

Up in cell block number nine

The trouble started in cell block no four

It spread like fire across the prison floor

I said come on boys get ready to run

Here comes the warden with a tommy gun

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

Up in cell block number nine

The warden said

Come out with your hands up in the air

If you don't stop this riot

You're all gonna get the chair

Scarface Jones said It's too late to quit

And pass the dynamite because the fuse is lit

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on

Up in cell block number nine

The ninety second hour

The tear gas got our men

Crawled in our cells

But every now and then

There's a riot going on

There's a riot going on yeah

There's a riot going on

Up in cell block number nine