Sing Me Back Home

By Merle Haggard

The warden led a prisoner
down the hallway to his doom
I stood up to say good-bye like all the rest
And I heard him tell the warden
just before he reached my cell
'Let my guitar playing friend do my request.'
Let him
Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
Make my old memories come alive
Take me away and turn back the years
Sing Me Back Home before I die
I recall last Sunday morning
a choir came in from town
Just to sing a few old gospel songs
And I heard him tell the singers
'There's a song my mama sang
Can I hear it once before we move along?'
Sing me back home with a song I used to hear
Make my old memories come alive
Take me away and turn back the years
Sing Me Back Home
Before I die

What is this poem about? The first verse is about a man who’s on death row and he’s in his cell when he here’s the warden is talking someone to the electric char and then the gay who’s going to the char asks if he can have his quitar playing friend do his request.
The second verse is about a guy who’s in church and a choir comes in and sings a couple songs and he asks if the choir would sing a song that his mother use to sing to him.
I have loved this song for as long as I can remember. I grew up to this kind of music my mother is a huge Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Whalin Jennings fan. I don’t really now what Merle Haggard is really trying to say but I know he has spent a fair bit of time in jail so his songs come from first hand experience.