Characters - Calvin Russell

Sometime ago two people I know

They were sittin' in a prison cell

Just talkin' of life of its joys of its strifes

Of the the good times that life held

The kid he told of the jewels and gold

To be had while he played the game

I’m worried not about the sentence I’ve got

You see my future it’s strictly fame

Well I used to lay tricks to baffle the dicks

I would leave them a clue to find

Then I’d beat my retreat on back to easy street

All my thoughts of this jail behind

Only the characters know what I’m sayin'

Only the characters know what I mean

Only the characters have any idea

Only the characters have seen what I’ve seen

Well the old man listened till his dim eyes glistened

He said when the kid got through

Son you’re young and you’ve only begun

But old men have a story too

It was late one day on a get-away

I had to shoot a young man down

It was a jewelry store and I was at the door

When the police came around

Well I made a draw and so did the law

Both our rods spit lead

When the smoke had cleared and the scene reappeared

One poor young dude lay dead

Well I was thrown in jail held without bail

Chalked up with first degree

I wasn’t so game when my trial day came

Electric chair in front of me

So I tried to grin but it was useless then

My nerves were like the edge of a knife

And I held my breath for that verdict of death

But they sentenced me here for my life

Only the characters know what I’m sayin'

Only the characters know what I mean

Only the characters have any idea

Only the characters have seen what I’ve seen

So here I sit son I got my life near done

All my hopes and joys have fled

And it won’t be long before I join the throng

That’s numbered with the dead

Yeah that’s numbered with the dead

Yeah that’s numbered with the dead

Yeah yeah