Don McLean - Respectable lyrics

Ah, it ain't so easy is it?
You almost lost your place
And perhaps you're wondering how you're going
To cope with your disgrace
Well, your wealth is well established and
Your friends were never few
And all the things they told you
Of you're finding to be true
Well if truth can free the guilty
While the innocent must die
Then I respect, respect
Respect the coldest lie

And you talk of human justice while
You drive on fancy wheels
And you push them to their limit just
To see how nice it feels
Well it doesn't really matter if
She's living or she's dead
You just drive away forgetting that
Your bumper's dipped in red

Well if that's the kind of justice
That our hall of justice claims
Then I respect, respect
Respect old Jesse James

And most cordially they caught you and
They asked you to obey
And they threw you into prison just
In case you could not pay
Well King Arthur jousted Lancelot
Who stole away his wife
And your lawyers jousted with the court
To save your precious life

Well if living is what matters though
You lie with every breath
Then I respect, respect
The ones we put to death

And you won your case most easily
And soon you will be free
But there will be a million
More who lose their liberty
Not because of what they did
But what they did not do:
They did not pay a lawyer or
A judge to see them through

Why, they had no friends to call on
And they could not raise their bail
Well if winning is what matters
I respect the ones who fail