in the gravel yard with a number for my name making little rocks out of big rocks all day oh the work is mighty hard in the gravel yard i ll never be a free man so they say warden hear my plea listen now to me i killed a man that i caught with my wife you d probably done the same so i am not to blame sentenced to the rest of my life in the driven rain with a ball and chain my hammer rings a low mournful sound it sings a little song for the ones who done me wrong who lie beneath the cold cold ground