Lyrics for Folsom Prison Blues as interpreted by toterkater

Folsom Prison Blues Lyrics
I hear the train a-coming
It's rolling 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 dragging on
But that train keeps rolling
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 blowing
I hang my head and cry

I bet there's rich folk eating
In a fancy dining car
They're probably drinking coffee
And smoking big cigars
But I know I had it coming
I know I can't be free
But those people keep a-moving
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

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  • 31 Comments
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bridget_a
05-10-2002

Rated 0 
This is a great song...good sing along tune....johny cash will rock on forever

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roger wilco
06-09-2002

Rated 0 
the father of psychobilly. Johnny Cash is a legend.


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kenf62
09-27-2002

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Maybe the coolest song ever.

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mrtownzjoo
03-16-2003

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Johhny cash was the one of the first people to tell pop music to fuck off thorough his music. he sang about the down-trodden prisoner, the murderer, the lost girl, the pathetic excuse for a father. He f'ing rocks.

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kkhx3
06-06-2003

Rated 0 
This is a great song. From the opening guitar intro to the end of the song. Cash's deep mahogany baritone telling us he "shot a man in Reno.... Just to watch him die", it's impossible not to feel sorry for the character who's sorry set of circumstances led him there.

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ubermax
12-11-2004

Rated 0 
This is some straight-up hardcore gangsta shit. At his hardest, even Ice Cube didn't sound this badass.

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OpinionHead
01-02-2005

Rated 0 
I think the prisoner is this tale of angst can hear the train whistles pass by as he deservingly rots in prison. I believe that's what inspires the prisoner to yearn for escape is this song. It's a classic

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New Dawn
02-11-2005

Rated 0 
i heard my dad sing this song before i even heard Johnny Cash sing it. While an inmate, Merle Haggard saw one of Cash's prison shows and said it inspired him to go into music.

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bkat004
02-27-2005

Rated 0 
Great Song! Live @ San Quentin is a beautiful album. Prisoners living in a disgusting environment such as 1960's Californian Prison - and this great man gives them something to believe in - MUSIC! The Warden will give you crap. The Other prisoners may give you crap. You may want to die. But the ONE HOPE you have is MUSIC AND Johnny Cash. TRULY - GREAT MUSICIAN!

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ntwjones
01-23-2006

Rated 0 
When I was a kid my dad used to play us Johnny Cash on long car jourmeys, and I'm sure I genuinely believed he really had shot a man in Reno just to watch him die (Johnny Cash, that is, not my dad).

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peacefrog2112
03-07-2006

Rated 0 
this is on of my fav cash songs. its a really dee and depressing song.

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NataliesADDICTION
03-08-2006

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I never really liked Johnny Cash until I saw Walk the Line...then I truely appreciated Johnny Cash and his songs...I especially like this song...when I was younger, my parents would sing this song, especially the line "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" and I thought that was so sad.....I like his songs cause they dont just talk about love....they're really good.

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VampireHeart66
03-19-2006

Rated 0 
Johnny Cash is way more than just an artist he is a legend that will live forever. Folsom Prison Blues in my oppinion is da best song ever.

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paintitred
04-04-2006

Rated 0 
Think this song brilliantly catches the remorse - of being in prison, not of shooting someone and watching them die. There's no apology for what he did, indicating he isn't really sorry... he wants to get out of prison and live a life of freedom, away from this prison which is constraining him.

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Vozzy
05-06-2006

Rated 0 
This song is totally cool and I love how Johnny sings it. It's fantastic. I love in Walk the Line when he plays it in the studio for Sam Phillips, Luther (the guitarist) and Marshall (the bassist) hadn't ever heard the song. Luther, the more accomplished musician, catches on quickly, and if you look in the background you'll see him mouth the note, "A" to Marshall, who earlier had masking tape denoting the notes on the fretboard of the bass.

One thing though: if you shoot a man in Reno, you won't go to Folsom Prison because Folsom is California and Reno is in Nevada. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense to me. Otherwise, this song, and Johnny Cash, are pillars of American music.

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durham-red
06-11-2006

Rated 0 
feelings of regret, wanting for freedom, anger for the free.

Mr cash, you are truely a pirate:-) "I shot a man in reno just to watch him die". I dont know american law, but if you shot a man in reno and were caught in cali you would go to cali prison:-) Or maybe at the time, you were sent to whichever prison had space..just like today I think.

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Elimination
06-19-2006

Rated 0 
Nice groove, and I'd say the lyrics are ahead of their time. Good shit.

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Boo Urns
07-25-2006

Rated 0 
One thing though: if you shoot a man in Reno, you won't go to Folsom Prison because Folsom is California and Reno is in Nevada. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense to me....



go listen to "Joe Bean"

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ho-ju
08-23-2006

Rated 0 
Well, perhaps he wasn't sent to prison for shooting that man in Reno, but for some other crime.

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gdogg
08-26-2006

Rated 0 
if it wernt so overrated it would be good

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FatSacc
10-17-2006

Rated 0 
I'm an adult ESL teacher and I use this song in my classes all the time. Lots of my students have seen Walk the Line, and they always crack up at the fact that in the Live at San Quentin version (which I use), the crowd cheers when he says that he "shot a man in Reno...just to watch him die." Those silly bastards think us Americans are gun-happy nuts. They love the song though.

...and I'm totally kidding about the silly bastards comment.

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brad_tingle
12-12-2006

Rated 0 
This song is about how much fun it is at Folsom Prison, hanging out in the yard, group showers, anal sex and conjugate visits.

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colour_ofinsanity
01-30-2007

Rated 0 
'I shot a man in Rino... just to watch him die...'

what an immortal line. i always thought this song was more a metaphor for when you feel trapped in a situation because of your own actions and your life is spiralling out of your control, and you feel you can almost taste what it could be like if things had gone differently ( the whistle) and you can't get out even if you try.

but maybe its about a guy in prison. or its probably just the same thing.

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Berrie
02-05-2007

Rated 0 
Songs like this are why Johnny Cash will live forever

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free333
03-21-2007

Rated 0 
Boo Urns said:

"One thing though: if you shoot a man in Reno, you won't go to Folsom Prison because Folsom is California and Reno is in Nevada. That's the one thing that doesn't make sense to me...."

others echoed this.

but, actually, you can be sent to prison in one state for crimes committed in another state:

"Charles Harrelson was transferred to Supermax [in Denver], the highest-security federal prison, after attempting to break out of an Atlanta federal prison in 1995. Other inmates at Supermax, about 90 miles south of Denver, include Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing coconspirator Terry Nichols and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph."

this is from an article "Woody Harrelson's dad dies doing 2 life terms," LA TIMES 3/21/07 (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-harrelson22mar22,0,4808635.story?coll=la-home-headlines) (Harrelson committed crimes in Texas for which he was in an Atlanta prison; after trying to escape, he then was sent to Denver prison)

also, as another example, Al Capone was in prison at Alcatraz (California) for crimes committed elsewhere (Chicago) (see, for example, http://www.1010wins.com/pages/38480.php?contentType=4&contentId=145944)

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