Stompin Tom Connors

Ben In The Pen

Stompin Tom Connors


Tom: C

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

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

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


[Chorus]

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


[Verse 2]

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

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


[Chorus]

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


[Verse 3]

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

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


[Chorus]

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

Ah, what's the use
  G 
I guess I'm not a very good bluffer