"Jailbreak"
There was a friend of mine on murder
And the judge's gavel fell
Jury found him guilty
Gave him sixteen years in hell
He said "I ain't spending my life here
I ain't living alone
Ain't breaking no rocks on the chain gang
I'm breakin' out and headin' home"
Gonna make a jailbreak
And I'm lookin' towards the sky
I'm gonna make a jailbreak
Oh, how I wish that I could fly
All in the name of liberty
All in the name of liberty
Got to be free
Jailbreak, let me out of here
Jailbreak, sixteen years ah
Jailbreak, had more than I can take
Jailbreak, yeah
He said he'd seen his lady being fooled with
By another man
She was down and he was up
Had a gun in his hand
Bullets started flying everywhere
And people started to scream
Big man lying on the ground
With a hole in his body
Where his life had been
But it was all in the name of liberty
All in the name of liberty
I got to be free
Jailbreak, jailbreak
I got to break out
Out of here
Heartbeats, they were racin'
Freedom, he was chasin'
Spotlights, sirens, rifles firing
But he made it out
With a bullet in his back
Jailbreak, jailbreak
Jailbreak, jailbreak
Jailbreak, jailbreak
Jailbreak, jailbreak
Jailbreak, jailbreak
On Oct. 15, 1984, a tiny treasure trove of long-lost AC/DC rarities titled ’74 Jailbreak arrived to help curb the seemingly insatiable consumer demand for the world’s hottest hard-rock heroes. Ever since the Australian rockers had exploded to global superstardom on the strength of 1980’s watershed Back in Black album, their record company, Atlantic, couldn’t seem to ship enough AC/DC product into stores.
In 1981 alone they released Back in Black’s successor, For Those About to Rock (We Salute You), and, in the U.S. for the first time, 1976’s Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which had remained unreleased stateside. Both were huge sellers, easily going platinum and proving that curiosity surrounding the band’s late original singer, Bon Scott, was as strong as the support for his replacement, Brian Johnson.
So less than a year after the November 1983 release of another new studio album, Flick of the Switch, rather than wait a couple more years for the group’s next effort, Atlantic dug deep into their vaults for five songs dating back 10 years to AC/DC’s earliest days. So early, in fact, that most of them predated the band’s signing with Atlantic and were recorded in late 1974 for an Australia-only version of the High Voltage album, which most fans had never heard let alone knew existed in the ’80s.
These Scott-sung offerings consisted of a surprisingly laid-back “You Ain’t Got a Hold on Me,” seriously boogie-flavored “Show Business,” the forbiddingly bluesy “Soul Stripper” and a positively sizzling cover of the R&B standard “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” which was a showstopper in the band’s early days.
So that was it: five songs clocking in at 24 minutes, barely the blink of an eye, gazing back to a moment 10 years gone, and one life sacrificed to rock ‘n’ roll … but was it?
Well, no, and that’s why ’74 Jailbreak impacted fans on a level far deeper than its short track listing would suggest. It took them back to a time when bassist Mark Evans was still in the group, when Phil Rudd was not yet the world’s most rock-solid drummer this side of Charlie Watts, when power-chord-conjuring Malcolm Young still owned a pair of gold-topped glam-rock boots as he peeled off the odd guitar solo and when his snotty baby brother really was a teenager. (It should be noted that Tony Currenti played drums on three songs and Peter Clack on one other, and that bass duties were shared by Evans, George Young and Rob Bailey on this EP.)
’74 Jailbreak cast a precious spotlight on the band’s singer, who was an ancient 28 years old when the music was recorded. He was their heart and soul, and eventual martyr, who used to drive AC/DC’s van before he drove their juggernaut down the Highway to Hell. You could even say he gave them a final push down that highway, toward even brighter horizons, as he jumped out of the car to places unknown.
| "Jailbreak" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover of the 1980 UK single reissue
| ||||
| Single by AC/DC | ||||
| from the album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and '74 Jailbreak | ||||
| B-side | "Fling Thing" (Australia and UK) "Show Business" (US) | |||
| Released | June 1976 | |||
| Format | 7 inch | |||
| Recorded | January 1976 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 4:36 (Studio) | |||
| Label | Albert Productions | |||
| Writer(s) | Angus Young Malcolm Young Bon Scott | |||
| Producer(s) | Harry Vanda, George Young | |||
| AC/DC singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Jailbreak" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the ninth and final track of their third Australian album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, released in September 1976. The song was not released in North America until 1984. It was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott.
Releases
It was first released as a single in Australia and the UK in mid-1976, with the non-album track "Fling Thing" as its B-side. The single was re-issued in the UK in 1980 with a picture sleeve.
As "Jailbreak" was only included on the Australian version of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, and not on its international counterpart, it did not see a release in the United States, Canada, and Japan until October 1984 as part of the international '74 Jailbreak EP. A promo-only single, with "Show Business" as its B-side, was released to radio stations in the US at the time.
Live recordings
"Jailbreak" was included on the 1992 AC/DC live album Live: 2 CD Collector's Edition, sung by Scott's replacement Brian Johnson. This live recording also features extended guitar solos by Angus Young. Another version, recorded in Dallas in 1985, also sung by Johnson, was included on the 12" version of the "Shake Your Foundations" single. The full 13:22 version was later included in the 2009 Backtracks compilation album.
The version from the show featured on Live at Donington is included in the AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack.
Personnel
- Bon Scott – lead vocals
- Angus Young – lead guitar
- Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
- Mark Evans – bass guitar[5]
- Phil Rudd – drums
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