Lyrics to
Have Mercy On The Criminal

This version of Have Mercy On The Criminal was released by Elton John in 1973.

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Have you heard the dogs at night
Somewhere on the hill
Chasing some poor criminal
And I guess they’re out to kill
Oh there must be shackles on his feet
And mother in his eyes
Stumbling through the devil-dark
With the hound pack in full cry

Have mercy on the criminal
Who is running from the law
Are you blind to the winds of change
Don’t you hear him any more

Praying Lord you got to help me
I am never gonna sin again
Just take these chains from around my legs
Sweet Jesus I’ll be your friend

Now have you ever seen the white teeth gleam
While you lie on a cold damp ground
You’re taking in the face of a rifle butt
While the wardens hold you down

And you’ve never seen a friend in years
Oh it turns your heart to stone
You jump the walls and the dogs run free
And the grave’s gonna be your home

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Elton John has released many songs over the years besides Have Mercy On The Criminal. Elton John released songs from 1969 to 2004 spanning across albums like Empty Sky, Tumbleweed Connection, Elton John, Madman Across The Water, 11/17/2010, Honky Chateau, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Don't Shoot Me (I'm Only The Piano Player), Caribou, Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy, Rock Of The Westies, Blue Moves, A Single Man, Victim Of Love, 21 At 33, The Fox, Jump Up!, Too Low For Zero, Breaking Hearts, Ice On Fire, Leather Jackets, Reg Strikes Back, Sleeping With The Past, The One, Duets, Reg Dwight's Piano Goes Pop, Made In England, The Big Picture, One Night Only, Songs From The West Coast, and Peachtree Road. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Elton John.

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

About Lyrics and Have Mercy On The Criminal by Elton John

The lyrics for Have Mercy On The Criminal are defined as the words making up the song released by Elton John in 1973. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Have Mercy On The Criminal have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Elton John 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 Have Mercy On The Criminal by Elton John 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 Have Mercy On The Criminal" means the words set to the music of Have Mercy On The Criminal, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Elton John. 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 Have Mercy On The Criminal and the lyrics to Have Mercy On The Criminal are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Elton John who came here looking just for the lyrics to Have Mercy On The Criminal, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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