I Wish There Was No Prisons

DESCRIPTION: The singer says "I only steal my belly to fill." Prison work is hard and makes him ill. He saw a girl with twins in a perambulator. He kissed one baby while he stole a potato from the other. "I wish there were no prisons. I do. Don't you?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (recording, George Spicer)
KEYWORDS: prison theft humorous nonballad baby twins
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sedley/Carthy-WhoKilledCockRobin, pp. 237-238, "I Wish There Weren't No Prisons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Finger-FrontierBallads, p. 90, "The Happy Crook" (1 short text, 1 tune, which seems a little more humorous than some of the other versions)
Roud #1708
RECORDINGS:
George Spicer, "I Wish There Was No Prisons" (on Voice14)
File: RcIWTWNP

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