Folsom Prison Blues

"Folsom Prison Blues" is an American country music song written by Johnny Cash in the early 1950s and originally recorded with his trio in 1956 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.

In the lyrics, the jailed protagonist listens to the whistle of the train outside his cell and recounts his deeds "I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die," imagines the free people inside the train 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).

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." [1]

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[2]). 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.

This song, coupled with Cash's known drug and alcohol abuse problems, helped give rise to the myth that Johnny Cash served prison time.

Legacy

Cover versions

• The The International Submarine Band did 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.
• Long Island Punk band The Freeze Ups perform a cover version of this song. It has an extended version of the solo and a more Punk-like sound.
• Keb Mo does a cover version of the song on a Johnny Cash tribute album. This version, performed by a black musician, inverts a crucial part of the song. Instead of the protagonist being guilty he is innocent: "They say I shot a man in Reno? But that's just a lie." With this change of lyrics Keb Mo changes the song from a meditation on forgiveness and guilt to one of social justice.
• Although she has not actually recorded it, country music star Danielle Peck performs a cover version of this song at virtually every live show of hers. She has said that her father taught her the song when she was 2½ years old, and stating that it was the very first song she ever learned to sing.

In popular culture

• In the motion picture When We Were Kings, Muhammed Ali mocks the song when asked about the difference between musical genres, and he calls the song "white people's music".
• In The Simpsons episode Brother from Another Series, Krusty the Klown performs a 'prison special' at Springfield Penitentiary dressed in black. He sings the following lyrics to the tune of "Folsom Prison Blues": I slugged some jerk in Tahoe/They gave me one-to-three/My high-priced lawyer sprung me on a technicality/I'm just visiting Springfield Prison/I get to sleep at home tonight..
• In sketch in the comedy series Kids in the Hall, Dave Foley says, "I once shot a man just to watch him die, then I got distracted and missed it. Oh my friends tried to describe it to me, but it just isn't the same."
• In one episode of Wings, Joe says "I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" in an attempt to intimidate someone.
• An episode of The CW series Supernatural was named after this song.
• In an episode of Veronica Mars, Veronica mocks a task where she's asked to give someone two truths and a lie about herself by saying "I'm Veronica, I'm from Neptune, I once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die."
• In the film Little Nicky, when the character Adrian is threatening to push Nicky's girlfriend, Valerie, in the way of an oncoming train, he cups a hand to his ear and says "I hear a train a-coming.", seemingly mimicking the opening line of the song.

References

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