Well you know I left my home when I was seventeen years of age Started hitch hiking from San Francisco down to L.A. And I, I met this man giving me a ride Amd finally got me by my side said, "Hey son have a dime." I say, "Thank you" and he was on his way So I got down in the big cities and I was trying to get myself a job But there wasn't no jobs around I couldn't seem to find anyway to make guineas And this man at the gas station, he says, "Son you need yourself a job?" and I said "Mr. I surely do." He said "Welcome in, I give you a dollar and a 1/4 an hour" That's sure good handling that time So I worked in the gas station for a while And I got myself a Plymouth mobile, yes I did That was comin' on pretty good up to one day I kind of let down on my lovin' down for a 1/4 an hour Couldn't go far out working overtime I need a lot of money That lot of money I don't know what to do So I met one of these guys who'd walk around in the neighborhood Behind this other gas station we figure we'd check it out pretty good So we decided we're gonna rob this gas station Because there was no other way ot get no money And then one night when there was no one around We went over there on that side of town And we broke into that gas station and we robbed the cash register And just at that time we're making our escape Here come a policeman walking up the street He yelled "Halt!" and we got scared we threw the money up in the air We started running and he started too He's hollering "halt!" and then he began to shoot. I was lucky I got over a fence My other friend made it around the corner, but my other buddy he went down And Michael you should have stopped when the man told you Because if that bullet wouldn't have hit you You would have been living and what I'm trying to say now Is that if you find yourself in a situation Where you could get killed or you could live, Live if you cried Cause Michael went down by the old man's bullet He didn't have to go down if he were to stop We had some pride wouldn't let him quit that runnin' But now Michael's in the ground. Michael why did you keep on runnin'? Michael your pride done got you killed You should have knowed that cop had a pistol on his side Why didn't you stop before you was killed?