"Chuck Turner"

"Oh, my name it is Chuck Turner
And I'm in a prison cell
Far away in West Virginia
That's where I'm forced to dwell
In a lonely section of the penitentiary
And while I'm locked behind the walls,
I recall what they did to me.

"I grew up in Cincinnati
Then attended Harvard U.
I became an organizer
And to Roxbury I did move
To the Boston City Council
The people did vote me
And as their representative
I served diligently.

"I fought discrimination
By the universities
And demanded that developers
Cease to be greedy
I fought to regulate their rents
And for Boston tenants' rights
And denounced police brutality
And the wars Bush launched at night.

"They could not defeat me at the polls
In six elections
So Ashcroft's partner and the FBI
Began a collaboration
They paid an informant thirty grand
To tape me secretly
And illegally tried to entrap me
For proposing a public hearing.

"Although I was elected
By the people of Roxbury
A corrupt U.S. Attorney
Charged me with `bribe-taking'
To cover-up his misconduct
The Feds arrested me
And from Boston's City Council
I was expelled illegally.

"Then after a press-rigged trial
The biased judge sentenced me
And because I pleaded innocent
He accused me of `perjury'
And added more months in prison
`Cause I spoke at some meetings
And imprisoned me for three long years
`Though my age is seventy.

"Yes, my name it is Chuck Turner
And I'm in a prison cell
Far away in West Virginia
That's where I'm forced to dwell
In a lonely section of the penitentiary
And although I'm locked behind the wall,
Boston now wants me FREE!"

The public domain "Chuck Turner" biographical protest folk song about the Chuck Turner-FBI Entrapment Case was written shortly after former anti-war Boston City Councilor and current U.S. political prisoner Chuck Turner was imprisoned at the Hazelwood Penitentiary in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia in late March 2011. Its lyrics can be sung to the tune of the traditional Scottish folk song, "Come, All Ye Tramps and Hawkers."