Written: Bayfield Highway, Durango CO, 1972
The big news that year was the “no knock” law that allowed cops to break into your house without knocking if they thought you were doing something they didn’t like. Knees gave it a Neil Young flavor and a country accent and liked the fact that his revenge-crazed protagonist planned to off the seven DEA agents with a knife, instead of a ho-hum gun.
If you guys are interested
I’ll tell you why I’m here
So far from my home town
Seven of em came
Without a knock upon my door
It’s amazin how they bring you down.
They tole me all my rights
But they didn’t explain my wrongs
I done everything that they said
But if I had known
The shape that I’m in now
I’d shot everyone of them dead.
Just about a lid was all that I had
Underneath the the mattress of my bed
Then they tole me “Kid,
You’re gonna wind up bad
This stuff will knock the brains out of your head.”
An they tole me they were doin me a favor
But I lost my wife an a year of my life
An I’d give anything for a knife
An a chance to pay them back for their favor.
That’s about the size of it
I’ll spend a year in jail
There ain’t much more to tell
But those seven men
For the favor that they done
I’ll see them all in hell.