"Folsom Prison Blues" is an American country music song written by Johnny Cash in the early 1950s and originally recorded with his trio in 1955 for the Sun Records label. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career. It has become one of Cash's signature songs.

In the lyrics, the jailed protagonist listens to the whistle of a train outside his cell and recounts his crimes ("I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die"), imagines the free people inside the train ("They're probably drinking coffee and smoking big cigars") and dreams of what he would do if he were free. "I know I had it coming/I know I can't be free," sings the imprisoned man. "But those people keep a'moving/and that's what tortures me."

The song does not clarify why the protagonist is serving time in California despite having committed murder in Nevada (unless he is serving time in Folsom for another offence, and is recalling the Reno murder as he reflects on a life of crime, and his unwillingness to follow his mother's advice not to "play with guns").

History

Cash was inspired to write this song after seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) while serving in West Germany in the United States Air Force. Cash recounted how he came up with the "Reno" line: "I sat with my pen in my hand, trying to think up the worst reason a person could have for killing another person, and that's what came to mind."

The song borrows heavily, both lyrically and melodically, from a Gordon Jenkins composition on his 1953 Seven Dreams concept album (the Jenkins song is often referred to as Crescent City Blues. Jenkins later reportedly filed an infringement lawsuit and received a settlement after Cash's 1968 live recording achieved widespread success. Cash included the song in his repertoire for decades. The definitive live performance is considered to be the opening song of a concert recorded at Folsom Prison itself on January 13, 1968. This version was eventually released on the At Folsom Prison album the same year. That opening song is more up-tempo than the Sun studio recording, as befits a concert-opening number. However, the recording's most notable feature — the whoops from the audience at the "Reno" line — was actually added in post-production, according to Michael Streissguth. A special on the Walk the Line DVD indicates that the prisoners were careful not to cheer at any of Cash's comments about the prison itself, fearing reprisal from guards.

Legacy

Cover versions

• The The International Submarine Band recorded the song on their only EP Safe at Home in 1968.
• The song was covered by Screaming Jets on their 1992 EP Living in England.
• The band Reverend Horton Heat covered the song on their 1999 greatest hits album, Holy Roller.
• Keb Mo does a cover version of the song on a Johnny Cash tribute album. He changes the famous Reno line to "They say I shot a man down in Reno, but that was just a lie." In a later verse, instead of "I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free," he changes the lines to "I didn't hurt nobody, I should be roamin' free." He has stated that the original line "turned his stomach."
• Country music singer Danielle Peck performs a cover of the song at virtually every live show of hers, and it has become a huge hit at her concerts. Danielle has said on numorous times that "Folsom Prison Blues" was the very first song she ever learned to sing, adding that her father taught her the song when she was 2½ years old (much to her mother's disapproval).
• Kentucky based cowpunk band Nine Pound Hammer covered this song on their second album, Smokin' Taters!.
• Canadian country music singer George Canyon covered the song on his 2007 album Classics.
• Everlast covered the song on his coming album "Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford".
• Black Stone Cherry often play this song live, and it featured on their live album "Live At The Astoria".
• Peter Hayes, from the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, has recently played the song after gigs in the street.
• The Sunny Cowgirls, an Australian country music duo, covered the song on their first album 'Little Bit Rusty'.
• Volbeat uses the music as a tribute to Johnny Cash in the song "Sad Man's Tonque".

Succession

References

• Streissguth, Michael. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece, Da Capo Press (2004). ISBN 0-306-81338-6.

Footnotes

External links