Lyrics to
Alcatraz

This version of Alcatraz was released by Nazareth in 1973.

Our About Nazareth page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Alcatraz from 1973 as well as all of the other lyrics from Nazareth that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Nazareth or about the 1970s in general.

Now lay me down on market street
I’m lookin’ for some spare change
A coast guard ship has been lookin’ for me
And I might have to change my name
Here comes Uncle Sam again with the same old bag of beans
The local chief’s on the radio
He’s got some hungry mouths to feed
Goin back to Alcatraz

Lay me back down here on the highway
One hundred and one ways to go
Solitary is so confinin’
To the legend of Geronimo
Oh I know I could bring the rain
Used to dance for ABC
And all the braves down on death row
Are pretending to be free
Back home in Alcatraz

In the land of the great white father
My American blood runs cold
I left my home in Oklahoma
To the Everglades I go
It’s just the wings on the silver cars
And I’m allowed to plow a field
It’s not the life for a nineteen seventy
(What’s an)Indian boy to do
Goin’ back to Alcatraz
Lay me down on market street
I’m lookin for some spare change
A coast guard ship has been lookin’ for me
Might have to change my name
Here comes Uncle Sam again with the same old bag of beans
Local chief’s on the radio
He’s got some hungry mouths to feed
Goin’ back to Alcatraz
Here comes Uncle Sam again with the same old bag of beans
Local chief’s on the radio
He’s got some hungry mouths to feed
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz
Goin back to Alcatraz

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Nazareth has released many songs over the years besides Alcatraz. Nazareth released songs from 1971 to 1998 spanning across albums like Nazareth, Excercises, Razamanaz, Loud 'N' Proud, Rampant, Hair Of The Dog, Play 'N' The Game, Close Enough For Rock 'N' Roll, Expect No Mercy, No Mean City, Malice In Wonderland, The Fool Circle, 2XS, Sound Elixir, The Catch, Cinema, Snakes 'N' Ladders, No Jive, From The Vaults, Move Me, and Boogaloo. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Nazareth.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Alcatraz by Nazareth

The lyrics for Alcatraz are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1973 song by Nazareth. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Alcatraz have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Alcatraz - Nazareth and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Alcatraz by Nazareth in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Alcatraz" means the words set to the music of Alcatraz, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Nazareth. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Alcatraz and the lyrics to Alcatraz are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Nazareth who came here looking just for the lyrics to Alcatraz, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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