Thank you Mishel for all that information and the wonderful details. Based on that, it seems like the song is trying to make a connection between the way criminals (and not only the worst ones) were treated back then, and alcohol abuse. The writer who is speaking might be drinking so much (like many at the time) because he is afraid and is trying not to think about what might happen to him some day (keeping the demons, that he is facing each day to make a living, at bay)...
Thank you Mishel for all that information and the wonderful details. Based on that, it seems like the song is trying to make a connection between the way criminals (and not only the worst ones) were treated back then, and alcohol abuse. The writer who is speaking might be drinking so much (like many at the time) because he is afraid and is trying not to think about what might happen to him some day (keeping the demons, that he is facing each day to make a living, at bay)...