These chains of so rrow they are heavy it is true
And these l ocks cannot be broken
no not with o ne thousand keys
O Jailer you drag a ball-n-c hain you cannot see
You can lay your burden on me
Y ou can lay your burden down on me
Y ou can lay your burden down upon me
But you c annot lay down your memory
W oooo wooo wooo W oooo wooo wooo
H ere I go! Knockin on Jo e!
T his square foot of sky will be mine til I die
Knocking o n Joe Woooo wooo wooo
A ll down the row K nockin on Joe
O Warden I surrender to you
Your fists can't hurt me anymore
You know these hands will never mop your dirty Death Row floors
O Preacher come closer you don't scare me anymore
Just tell Nancy not to come here
Just tell her not to come here anymore
Tell Nancy not to come and let me die in the memory of those arms
O woo woo woo Woo woo woo
All down the row Knockin on Joe
O you kings of halls and ends of halls
You will die within these walls
And I'll go down the row Knockin on Joe
O Nancy's body is a coffin
she wears my tombstone at her head
O Nancy's body is a coffin
she wears my tombstone at her head
She wears her body like a coffin
She wears a dress of gold and red
She wears a dress of red and gold
She wears a dress of gold and red
Grave-looters at my coffin before my body's even cold
It's a door for when I go
Knockin on Joe
These hands will never mop
your dirty Death Row floors
No! You can hide! You can run!
O but your trial is yet to come
O you can run! You can hide!
But you have yet to be tried!
You can lay your burdens down here
You can lay your burden down Knockin on Joe
You can lay your burden upon me
You can lay your burden upon me
Knockin on Joe
You can lay it down here
You can bring your burden down
Knockin on Joe...
