July the second,
It was nineteen sixty-three
I was servin' time
For armed robbery
Four o'clock in the mornin',
I was layin' back in my cell
I heard the whistle blow then
I heard somebody yell...
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Down in cell block number 9...
The riot started down
In cell block number 4
Spread like wild fire
Across the prison floor
Scar-face Jones said,
"It's too late to quit"
Pass the dynamite
'Cause the fuse is lit...
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Down in cell block number 9...
Y'all gotta stop that stuff
Goin' on over there
If ya don't stop that riot,
Y'all gonna get the chair
I said, "Hey now boys,
Get ready to run
Here come the warden with
An automatic gun!"
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Down in cell block number 9...
In the forty-seventh
Hour the tear gas
It got our men
We are all back in our cells
But every now and then...
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
There's a riot goin' on
Down in cell block number 9...
compositores: JERRY LEIBER, STOLLER MICHAEL
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