Written by | Guy Massey |
Date | 1924 |
Publisher | Shapiro Bernstein & Co Inc. |
"The Prisoner's Song" is a song whose origins start with Robert Massey, who had heard it while in prison. The song was then passed to his brother, Guy Massey, who was given the copyright to the song by his cousin Vernon Dalhart.
In the January 21, 1966 episode of The Jimmy Dean Show, Rowlf the Dog is seen in prison and recruits Jimmy Dean to help him escape. The plan goes awry and Jimmy lands behind bars too. To punctuate the sketch, Rowlf attempts to sing the song, but Jimmy's wardrobe malfunction causes him to break, making Rowlf only able to get through two lines before ad-libbing an ending to the scene.
References[]
- Big Bird sings a brief bit of the tune before meeting with Sam the Robot in Episode 0679 of Sesame Street. He does so again at the beginning of Episode 0901.