Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson (VH1 Storytellers)
Folsom Prison Blues Lyrics:
[Cash:] Well, you know, so many people say, um, come up and say, "My, uh, father was in
prison with you."
[Laughter, clapping.]
[Nelson:] My father was in prison with you!
[Cash:] Yeah, right. I hear that. I hear a lot about.. Actually, uh, I wrote, "Folsom
Prison Blues,"
[Smattering of applause.]
[Cash:] one night after, uh, one night after I saw a movie called, "Inside the Walls
of Fulsom Prison." I was in the Air Force in Germany in 1952 when I wrote it. The thing
then was t'hope some day I could sing on the radio, you know, sing a song on the radio.
[Nelson:] Yeah.
[Cash:] And, uh, so, I didn't, uh, I never thought about recording the song when I, when
I wrote it. But, uh, I wrote it as if I... tried to write it as if I were a, a criminal,
you know.
[Nelson:] Boy, that was a stretch, I know.
[Laughter.]
[Cash:] No, yeah. It was a, it was a real stretch, so... And I thought about what was
the most evil thing a man, evil reason a man could do for killin' somebody. And I figured,
just to watch him die, you know, might be a pretty evil reason.
[Nelson:] That's the attitude I like.


[Cash:]
I hear the train a-comin',
[Applause.]
It's rollin' around the bend.
And I ain't seen the sunshine,
[Audience begins clapping in time for a while.]
Since I don't know when.
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison,
And time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps a-rollin',
On down to San Anton'.

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.
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/NF8R ]
When I hear that whistle blowin',
I hang my head and cry.

Play, Willie.

[Instrumental break featuring Nelson on the guitar.]

[Cash laughs:] Yeah!

[Nelson keeps playing.]

I bet there's rich folks eatin',
In a fancy dinin' car.
They're probably drinkin' coffee,
And smokin' big cigars.
Well, 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.

Pick it one more time, Willie. One more chance.

[Instrumental break, again featuring Willie on the guitar]

[Cash:]
"And we'll go honky tonkin', honky tonkin',
Honky tonkin' baby."
[Cash laughs.]

Well, if they freed me from this prison,
If that railroad train was mine,
I bet I'd move it on,
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.

[Nelson & Cash on the guitars.]

And I'd let that lonesome whistle,
Blow my blues away.

[Applause.
[Cash:] Thank you, thank you.


[FOLSOM PRISON BLUES]
[Written by: John R. Cash
Performed by: Johnny Cash
Appears on: VH1 Storytellers (Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson)]
Lyrics: Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson
(VH1 Storytellers) [end]