Like everything to do with the late Bon Scott, there are a couple of origin stories for AC / DC’s “Jailbreak”, animated in June 1976.
Guitarist Angus Young Having said that the song’s momentum, a vigorous, semi-spoken account of a convict trying to escape from prison only to get (spoiler alert!) Shot in the back while galloping bound for self-government, was based on anyone Scott met in a Perth, Australia, dungeon after he was arrested before joining AC / DC.
Another account, without confiscation, contends that Scott wrote the lyrics after flipping through an account in a pamphlet about Mark Brandon “Chopper” Reid, who was sentenced to 16 years for murdering a gang leader and decided to try to escape three years later from your sentence. He was caught when his accomplice, Jimmy Loughnan, panicked out of fear of tight spaces.
Gifted with Scott’s delight in theatricality and intrigue, the incompleteness seems appropriate and befits the motto of the track itself. There is some evidence that AC / DC began work on “Jailbreak”, written by Scott, Young, and their brother and fellow guitarist Malcolm Young, during the 1975 sessions. TNT, but it first appeared on the third Australian studio LP of the herd, Dirty deeds made dirty traps.
“Jailbreak” was not, without forfeiture, in the revised song directory for the 1981 US LP push, which made the song a favorite with true AC / DC fans.