Stompin' Tom Connors – Ben, In The Pen lyrics

They call me Ben here in the pen
Where ya take the guff and ya suffer
But I'll be free when I'm 53
And I bet I'll be a lot tougher, I'll bet I'll be a lot tougher

When I was a lad I was really bad
It wasn't smart to be good
I beat up my dog, choked my frog
I acted just as mean as I could

I hit all the girls and put gum in her curls
Cause I liked to hear 'em cry and plea
I'd punch a little boys and steal all their toys
Cause I knew they wern't smarter than me

Yeh, They call me Ben here in the pen
Where ya take the guff and ya suffer
But I'll be free when I'm 53
And I bet I'll be a lot tougher, I'll bet I'll be a lot tougher

When I was 16 I was really mean
I could scrap at the toss of a coin
I was leader of a gang, Rough 'Rangitangs
Ya had to be a good theif to join

Yeah we had the black jackets and the motorbikes
And we forced all the girls to... Skip school
And the cops they'd all tried to sympathize
An' we told them how our parents were so cruel

Yeh, They call me Ben here in the pen
Where ya take the guff and ya suffer
But I'll be free when I'm 53
And I bet I'll be a lot tougher, I'll bet I'll be a lot tougher

When I turned 21 I had to have a gun
Cause I planned me a robbery one day
And the girlfriend said that she'd rather be dead
Than to hang around with a guy like me

Well I granted her wish and dumped her in with the fish
Then I went to meet Frank
Yeah, that's the same day that I shot and killed me the cop
He didn't want to let me into the bank

Yeh, They call me Ben here in the pen
Where ya take the guff and ya suffer
But I'll be free when I'm 53
And I bet I'll be a lot tougher, I hope I'll be a lot tougher

Aah, what's the use
I guess I'm not a very good bluffer
Aah, back to that hammer man.