AboutBeth Burgess Expertise I can answer just about any question about lyrics or the artists who recorded the songs--80s and 90s country especially. I don't watch many new videos, but the older the video question, the more likely I am to be able to answer it.
Experience I've been a country music fan for all of my 25 years! I somehow have a knack for being able to remember all the words to all the songs (and who sang them for the most part) even though I can't carry a tune to save my life!
Education/Credentials I'm currently enrolled in law school (so if I can't remember an answer off the top of my head, I have excellent research skills!)
Question I only know some of the song I wish I had wings like a angel over these prison walls i will fly I will fly in the arms of my darling and there i be willing to die
Answer Hi Frances! I've found many versions of this song, but I've included below the most common lyrics. Also, many artist have recorded this song.
I was able to find an article written about the song as well:
"'The Prisoner's Song' is a song copyrighted in 1924 by Guy Massey, but transcribed by his brother Robert Massey.[1] The lyrics were carved into the wall of a cell in the old Early County Jail in Blakely, Georgia by Robert F. Taylor, who was at one time held there. The Prisoner’s Song rates as a 1920s all-time best-seller with a staggering seven million-plus copies sold worldwide in the version by Vernon Dalhart. The Vernon Dalhart recording charted for 32 weeks, twelve at No. 1, during 1925 and 1926.[2] The Vernon Dalhart version was recorded on Victor Records in October 1924 and marketed in the hillbilly music genre. It became one of the best-selling records of the early twentieth century, with at least two million copies sold (sales figures are uncertain; some place the sales at 7 million or more), as well as over a million copies of the sheet music to the tune. It was later performed by, among others, Hank Snow and Bill Monroe."
Lyrics:
Oh, I wish I had someone to love me,
Someone to call me their own.
Oh, I wish I had someone to live with,
'Cause I'm tired of living alone.
Oh, meet me tonight in the moonlight,
Please meet me tonight all alone.
For I have a sad story to tell you,
It's a story that's never been told.
I'll be carried to the new jail tomorrow,
Leaving my poor darling alone.
With the cold prison bars all around me,
And my head on a pillow of stone.
Now I have a grand ship on the ocean,
All mounted with silver and gold.
And before my poor darling would suffer,
Oh, that ship would be anchored and sold.
Now, if I had the wings of an angel,
Over these prison walls I would fly.
And I'd fly to the arms of my darling,
And there I'd be willing to die.
