“Show me a prison, show me a jail
Show me a pris'ner whose face has grown pale
And I'll show you a young man
With many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I.”

—  Phil Ochs

"There but for Fortune" (1963); Ochs here paraphrases a proverbial expression "There, but for the grace of God, go I", which was itself a paraphrase of John Bradford's expression on seeing other prisoners being led to their execution as heretics to be burned at the stake: There, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford. (as quoted in Problems in the Relations of God and Man (1911) by Clement Charles Julian Webb, p. 107)
Lyrics
Variant: There but for fortune, go you or I
You or I.

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Phil Ochs photo
Phil Ochs 48
American protest singer and songwriter 1940–1976

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