Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint
Well he got up in the morning and put his tie on like any other man didn't he?
Stashed his groceries, prayed to Christ on Sundays, cried out to God in his woman's arms,
Washed his body, got on a train the next morning and taught a man how to fly
at the end of a rope made stiff for all the dancing caught in a Jack Ketch knot
Albert Pierrepoint: hands on oracle gifted with knowing how long a man's life would last
Prisoners all who drank in the air and light and bitter jailhouse water down to the last drop
Killed more Nazis than most lightning eyed fighter pilots or tank warfare cat and mouse maestros
Eleven in a day once, snake charmer of the rope. Quick. Best hangman ever to put noose to neck
And there were women, bug eyed under the full cloth hood no different than the rest
Whose shoes needed to be picked up and tucked away someplace while the guards ate lunch
And there was least of all me, that got to meet Albert Pierrepoint once right before I died
Maybe I'll see him again down here at the bottom of the fall, my smiling head cocked to the side
Well he got up in the morning and put his tie on like any other man didn't he?
Stashed his groceries, prayed to Christ on Sundays, cried out to God in his woman's arms,
Washed his body, got on a train the next morning and taught a man how to fly
at the end of a rope made stiff for all the dancing caught in a Jack Ketch knot
Albert Pierrepoint: hands on oracle gifted with knowing how long a man's life would last
Prisoners all who drank in the air and light and bitter jailhouse water down to the last drop
Killed more Nazis than most lightning eyed fighter pilots or tank warfare cat and mouse maestros
Eleven in a day once, snake charmer of the rope. Quick. Best hangman ever to put noose to neck
And there were women, bug eyed under the full cloth hood no different than the rest
Whose shoes needed to be picked up and tucked away someplace while the guards ate lunch
And there was least of all me, that got to meet Albert Pierrepoint once right before I died
Maybe I'll see him again down here at the bottom of the fall, my smiling head cocked to the side