Barabbas lyrics

Some work and slave for all of their days

And they'll do anything whatever it pays

Some of us search and we find other ways

Me, I turned to thieving

A little bit here and a little bit there

Always some danger but i didn't care

As long as I felt I was getting my share

That's all I ever believed in

From the day I was born I understood

One way or another I'd wind up no good

One night I got caught, always knew that I would

The charges were robbery and murder

I broke into a house for money and jewels

Some old man tried to stop me, poor misguided fool

I killed him and left him in his own bloody pool

I ran but was caught by the soldiers

They bound me and beat me and put me on trial

It was all cut and dried, it took a short while

"Have you anything to say?" I only smiled

And said, "Judge, let's get this over."

I was led from the courtroom and back to my cell

For a man 'bout to die I was taking it well

With no hope of heaven and no fear of hell

Only silence and darkness forever

I awoke from a dream in the middle of the night

The door burst open and in streamed the light

A man was thrown in more dead than alive

On his face I could see the blood glisten

I could tell at a glance he'd been beat black and blue

He lay their unconscious but then he came to

I said, "Tell me, friend, what on earth did you do?"

He said, "I told them but they wouldn't listen."

“Told them what?" I asked but he didn't speak again

He just lay there quiet in his blood and his pain

The morning broke, it was starting to rain

The guards come in and they got us

Out to the courtyard in the cool morning air

A crowd was waiting. Why were they there?

Two small-time losers, what did they care?

I'd have thought they'd already forgot us

The next thing I heard was the governor's own voice

He raised up his hands and the mob ceased its noise

"According to custom I'm giving you the choice

Which of these men should I pardon?"

The mob went crazy and cried out my name

Shouting, "Give us Barabbas!" again and again

The governor sighed and said, "My hands are clean."

The mob shouted, "Give us Barabbas!"

But what kind of freedom is this that is mine?

To spend all my days in search of a sign

To have my life saved and to never know why

To owe such a debt to a stranger

I will go with the wind to a far distant land

I will not cease my wandering til I understand

I will tell everyone, every woman and man

Of the strange things I have beheld here

Of the strange things I have beheld here