The Hostage Tom Paxton

I'm a guard in the great iron prison, at least I was 'till now
It was never a picnic social, never a date
They never come in laughing and you know they never taught them how
It was damn hard work, and you wouldn't believe the pay

It was early in the morning, Lord, I wasn't but a half awake
When the Cons went nuts, and took us by surprise
I never was one for shaking, but I found it hard to stand
With a six-inch blade held right between my eyes

We could hear a siren blowing, somebody yelled in pain
Then it got so quiet, you could hear a bird walk by
They all had masks on their faces, and they spoke with a voice of Cain
"If they come in shooting, then you know you're bound to die
If they come in shooting, then you know you're bound to die."

I turned to a buddy named Willie, I said "Willie It'll be all right
If they meant to kill us we'd be half way down to Hell
See, they high-jacked a plane in the dessert, and the government screamed and cries
But to save some lives, they opened up a prison cell"

So the days kept coming and going, tension was getting high
But I wasn't too worried, I figured I knew the score
I knew they were talking to someone, I knew they were willing to try
So I figured my freedom was a matter of a day or two more