Expert: Bong Santos - 4/16/2006

Question
yes now my g/f asked me to find this song and all she told me is that the guy wrote it from prison after his g/f drowned and he was accused of it can you please help me find it

Answer
Dear Justin,

There's so many prison songs I know but I can't remember a song written personally by the singer himself. But the story of the song your girlfriend had in her mind points me to just one song and it is not the singer-songwriter's story.

The song I'm talking about is HAZARD by RICHARD MARX. It is the second single from his 1991 album "RUSH STREET" (The first one being KEEP COMING BACK). It was written by Richard himself  and it hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1992. The story of a boy who came with his mother to Hazard, Nebraska when he was just seven and since then hasn't been the favorite of every citizen there except her girlfriend, who one day was found drowned in the river with the guy being fingered by "witnesses" as the culprit as he was the last person seen with the girl.

Here is Hazard's lyrics:

HAZARD / Richard Marx

My mother came to hazard when I was just seven
Even then the folks in town said with predjudiced eyes
That boy is not right
Three years ago when I came to know mary
First time that someone looked beyond the rumors and the lies
And saw the man inside

We used to walk down by the river
She loved to watch the sun go down
We used to walk along the river
And dream our way out of this town

No one understood what I felt for mary
No one cared until the night she went out walking alone
And never came home
Man with a badge came knocking next morning
Here was I surrounded by a thousand fingers suddenly
Pointed right at me

I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old nebraska town

I think about my life gone by
And how its done me wrong
Theres no escape for me this time
All of my rescues are gone, long gone

I swear I left her by the river
I swear I left her safe and sound
I need to make it to the river
And leave this old nebraska town.

Hope this is what your girlfriend is looking for.

Maraming Salamat po!

Bong Santos