Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Greg Anton
In 2003 and 2004, Greg Anton composed and recorded the instrumental music for three one-hour documentaries aired on PBS TV. The documentaries took place in Louisiana and one of them gave an inside look at Angola Prison, the county's largest prison. Greg Anton completed the instrumental soundtrack and gave a CD of it to Robert Hunter, telling him about his meeting with one particular prisoner serving a life sentence. A few days later Hunter sent Anton a song he wrote to one of the instrumental tracks "a powerful lyric about the pain of a lifetime in a prison cell".
A day in the life of a dead man's soul
Rise up weary in this goddamned hole
Season my supper with the salt of tears
Sentenced to life plus ninety-nine years
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years
A voice in the dark that no one hears
Forgotten by God until judgment nears
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years
I did the crime and I don't deny
In prison to live and in prison to die
No one to remember me on the outside
Far as they're concerned I already died
They get on with their lives like I didn't exist
For all I know I've never been missed
Never had a visit, a letter or a call
Not even a snapshot to hang on my wall
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years
A voice in the dark that no one hears
Forgotten by God until judgment nears
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years
Dead to the world outside these bars
Dead to the ocean, the fields, the stars
Dead to hope and dead to fear
Dead to the thought of getting out of here
You wonder why I don't try suicide
It's because of a still small light inside
Just a flicker, not a full fledged spark
In the dead of night when the cells are dark
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years
A voice in the dark that no one hears
Forgotten by God until judgment nears
Lifetime, plus ninety-nine years