hidden shame

Johnny Cash

I'm sorry to say that you don't know me
I'm set in way you never understood
Each time I tried to tell the ugly truth
You always let it pass you by you said I'd never tell you a lie just because I could

Did you really think I was a bad man?
You always said that that should be my middle name
But you don't know the half of it you don't know how that name fits
You don't know my hidden shame

Hidden shame shame shame that I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me

Well there's a different kind of prison
And it don't have to look much like a cell
It's already on your mind boy we can see it in your eyes
So here's the bars and walls that dwelt

Well you know I'm never comin' home babe
You said you'd stand by me until I cleared my name
Sure it's easy to be strong when you know the charge is wrong
But the days and weeks get long when you've got a hidden shame

Hidden shame shame shame that I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me

[guitar]

I've had a friend when I was just a boy
We were like brothers we would run and hide
And we went walking on a high hillside
And I really don't know how it happened

He turned to me and had this strange look in his eyes
And not a single word was spoken
I must have pushed him but I don't remember why
And all at once he lay there broken
And I walked out without him and I buried it deep inside

Hidden shame shame shame that I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me


They say you always hurt the one you love
And I'm not sayin' if I did or if I didn't
But like my shame that kind of love is always hidden
They locked me up here for the ideas in my head
They never got me for the thing I really did

Hidden shame shame shame that I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity?
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me

You really don't know me
You really don't know me