Lyrics to
County Jail Blues

This version of County Jail Blues was released by Eric Clapton in 1976.

Our About Eric Clapton page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for County Jail Blues from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from Eric Clapton that we have in our lyrics database.

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

They picked me up,
Put me in the county jail.
They picked me up,
Put me in the county jail.
They wouldn’t let my woman
Come and post my bail.

Now I’m in prison,
I’ve almost done my time.
Now I’m in prison,
I’ve almost done my time.
They gave me six months,
I had to work out nine.

I know my baby,
She’s gonna jump and shout.
I know my baby,
She’s gonna jump and shout.
When the train comes in
And I come walking out.

Take these stripes from around me,
Chains from around my legs.
Take these stripes from around me,
Chains from around my legs.
The stripes don’t hurt me;
The chains could kill me dead.

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Eric Clapton has released many songs over the years besides County Jail Blues. Eric Clapton released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard, There's One In Every Crowd, No Reason To Cry, Slowhand, Backless, Another Ticket, Money And Cigarettes, Behind The Sun, August, Crossroads, Journeyman, Unplugged, From The Cradle, Pilgrim, Riding With The King, Reptile, Me And Mr. Johnson, and Back Home. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Eric Clapton.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and County Jail Blues by Eric Clapton

The lyrics for County Jail Blues are defined as the words making up the song released by Eric Clapton in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to County Jail Blues have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Eric Clapton and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to County Jail Blues by Eric Clapton if you think through it. 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 County Jail Blues" means the words set to the music of County Jail Blues, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Eric Clapton. 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 County Jail Blues and the lyrics to County Jail Blues are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Eric Clapton who came here looking just for the lyrics to County Jail Blues, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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