I’ll let the man in black speak
“I hear the train a comin’; it’s rollin’ ’round the bend,
And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when.
I’m stuck at Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin’ on.
But that train keeps rollin’ on down to San Antone.
When I was just a baby, my mama told me, “Son,
Always be a good boy; don’t ever play with guns.”
But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin’ I hang my head and cry.
I bet there’s rich folk eatin’ in a fancy dining car.
They’re prob’ly drinkin’ coffee and smokin’ big cigars,
But I know I had it comin’, I know I can’t be free,
But those people keep a movin’, and that’s what tortures me.
Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine,
I bet I’d move on over a little farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison, that’s where I want to stay,
And I’d let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.”
Folsom Prison Blues by John R. Cash (c) 1956 Hi Lo Music
An American Original – as they say.
I remember the legendary recording of his concert in San Quentin prison (wasn’t he the first name performer to do prison concerts?) When he got to “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die” the boys went crazy with excitement. Kind of dealt a body blow to penological reformation theory :)
My fav Cash song was “A boy named Sue”
Likewise Scott. A great final verse:
“I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I come away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but sue! I still hate that name!”
There was a bank in Canada that called its ATMs, “Johnny Cash Machines”.
You can’t get bigger than that.