Here is Johnny going all gangster…singing a song about murder and cocaine inside a prison…to thunderous applause.
“I thought I was her daddy but she had five more.” Gotta love that line…..
Also, is there a better way for a prison song to end than the emcee (in this case Hugh Cherry) announcing visitations for selected inmates? Then an inmate asks Johnny – ‘Will that be on the album‘? And Johnny responds, “I doubt that.” Yet here it is – uncut and in all its glory – on one of the most infamous, nearly-uncensored, and celebrated live shows in contemporary music history.
Fun fact – Merle Haggard was serving time in prison and saw Johnny Cash perform but that was an inmate at San Quentin State Prison in California. He recalled the event, stating that Cash performed for the inmates on New Year’s Day 1958. Haggard has consistently spoken about this experience, crediting it as a pivotal moment that inspired him to turn his life around and pursue a career in music.
My appreciation for Cash came to me gradually, through literature and film – especially his role in influencing and shaping Dylan’s career mid-to-late ’60s, through Cash: The Autobiography (1997), and later, the 2005 biopic Walk The Line. I first heard today’s featured song Cocaine Blues in the rendition here performed by Joaquin Phoenix in that movie. Cash’s music would also appear with some frequency in other colleagues’ music blogs here at WordPress.
Background (mostly from the Wikipedia article below)
Cocaine Blues is a Western swing song written by Troy Junius Arnall, a reworking of the traditional song “Little Sadie.” Roy Hogsed recorded a well known version of the Cocaine Blues in 1947 and is definitely worth a listen.
The song is the tale of a man, Willy Lee, who murders his unfaithful girlfriend while under the influence of whiskey and cocaine. He flees to Mexico and works as a musician to fund his continued drug use. Willy is apprehended by a sheriff from Jericho Hill, tried, and promptly sentenced to “ninety-nine years in the San Quentin Pen“. The song ends with Willy imploring the listener: Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me.
Come on you hypes listen unto me,
lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be.
Johnny changes the above lyrics in his show to refer to Folsom State Prison and also ‘Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me‘. He also used the then-provocative lyric “I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down.” Cash chose not to use the word “bitch” in some later versions.
He can be heard coughing occasionally; later in the concert recording, he can be heard noting that singing the song nearly did his voice in.
[Verse 1]
Early one morning, while making the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine, and I shot my woman down
I went right home, and I went to bed
I stuck that loving .44 beneath my head
Got up next morning, and I grabbed that gun
Took a shot of cocaine, and away I run
Made a good run, but I run too slow
They overtook me down in Juarez, Mexico
[Verse 2]
Laid in the hot joints, taking the pills
In walked the Sheriff from Jericho Hill
He said, “Willy Lee, your name is not Jack Brown
You’re the dirty hack that shot your woman down”
“Yes, oh yes, my name is Willy Lee
If you’ve got a warrant, just a-read it to me
Shot her down because she made me slow
I thought I was her daddy, but she had five more”
[Verse 3]
When I was arrested I was dressed in black
They put me on a train, and they took me back
Had no friend for to go my bail
They slapped my dried up carcass in that county jail
Early next morning, ’bout a half past nine
I spied a Sheriff coming down the line
Hocked and he coughed as he cleared his throat
He said, “Come on you dirty hack into that district court”
[Verse 4]
Into the courtroom, my trial began
Where I was handled by twelve honest men
Just before the jury started out
I saw that little judge commence to look about
In about five minutes, in walked a man
Holding the verdict in his right hand
The verdict read, “In the first degree…”
I hollered, “Lordy, Lordy, have mercy on me”
The judge, he smiled as he picked up his pen
Ninety-nine years in the Folsom Pen
Ninety-nine years underneath that ground
I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down
[Outro]
Come all, you’ve got to listen unto me
Lay off that whiskey, and let that cocaine be
[Spoken Word: Hugh Cherry, Inmate & Johnny Cash]
“These men have receptions
Matlock A50632, and Batshelter A39879
They have receptions”
Is that gonna be on the album?
Yeah
I doubt that
References:
1. Cocaine Blues – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I used to live with a dude who had this album. The saddest thing about breaking up with him was saying goodbye to this album & so many more great ones he had.
Years later, my son got into Johnny Cash & d/l a bunch of his tunes on his I-Pod (remember those?) & this was one of them.
I’ve loved Johnny Cash since I was a little girl. My uncle Donnie had the same badass look.
That’s sad to read about your parting with the ‘dude’. At least you got back in touch with your Cash roots via your son. That bad ass look you referred to I was thinking of when I noted his ‘locked and loaded’ wavy hairstyle and image in his duet of Jacksonville with June.
“Jackson”, not “Jacksonville” LOL
It was the movie that got my son interested in Johnny Cash. I thought it was a pretty good movie. I read that Cash wanted Phoenix for the part & actively promoted him for it ~ he made that decision when he saw the movie “Gladiator”.
Jacksonville haha Silly me.
Yeh, I thought it was a pretty good movie. His battle with drugs and alcohol resonated strongly.
I didn’t know Cash personally wanted Phoenix to play the role. Cash died in 2003 and the movie was released in 2005, so it must have been one of his last wishes. I did not like Gladiator at all, nor Phoenix’s portrayal.
I know I’ve mentioned this before, for the longest time, I essentially dismissed all country as “hillbilly music.” Fortunately, I changed my ignorant stance about 15 years ago or so. If anything, music blogging has given me even more appreciation of the richness of county music in many of its forms. One of the few expectations from the get-go was Johnny Cash. To me there was always something cool about Cash – almost the country version of Elvis Presley who I adored when I was 10 years old. Needless to say I love your song pick. And, dang it, Joaquin Phoenix was very compelling as Johnny Cash, comparable to Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, IMHO.
Music blogging also bolstered my listening appreciation of country music, including music from Johnny Cash I was previously unfamiliar and thanks to you music from more modern artists like Alison Krauss (who will feature today) and Neko Case – love that ‘Hold On, Hold On’.
I still consider myself in the infancy of my exploration of Johnny’s treasure chest of music. I agree about your comments re. portrayals by those wonderful actors.
Classic! Icon! Cash never wavered, love him! Really cool….
“Gladiator” was released in 2000.
Joaquin Phoenix met Johnny Cash at a Gladiator post-production party. https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/joaquin-phoenix-met-johnny-cash/
Johnny saying he wanted Phoenix to play him may be an urban myth, but he was a big fan of both “Gladiator” & Phoenix’s performance in it.
He was also a big fan of Phoenix’s portrayal of himself in the Cash docudrama. The only person who wasn’t happy, apparently, was his daughter Rosanne Cash.
https://americansongwriter.com/the-contrasting-cash-family-opinions-about-the-johnny-cash-film-walk-the-line/
You certainly went digging on their connection and as you say Cash seemed a keen fan of Phoenix. I liked Phoenix in ‘The Master’, ‘Her’ and of course ‘Walk The Line’. I wish his brother River hadn’t passed away so young, since I loved him in ‘Running on Empty’, ‘Mosquito Coast’ and ‘Stand by Me’.
Oh yeah, River’s passing was a tragedy, for sure.
Research is my thing. I have two degrees & I love being in the library or scrolling through online libraries.
I think ‘Running on Empty’ is the quintessential coming-of-age movie and one of the most criminally underrated films in movie history. River’s performance in it, as just a teenager, is the best I’ve ever seen from a young actor. Had he not met such an early demise, it’s almost frightening to imagine how extraordinary his career would have become — and honestly, Joaquin might have paled into insignificance by comparison.
I also get a real kick out of research as well, especially when it’s for articles I write here. It feels like a genuine trip — in the mental sense of setting out on a journey, uncovering fascinating details I wasn’t privy to, and passing them on. I find it completely absorbing and look forward to it every morning.
I have a paralegal degree ~ the research a paralegal does for a lawyer can make the difference in that lawyer winning or losing a case.
I also have an English degree ~ the research you do for writing papers is paramount.
There’s a difference between good research & bad research, of course. & how you use your research in your work. & you can do too much research, which is my problem. I will research myself TO DEATH & almost miss deadlines or miss even them. I get really caught up in the “there’s gotta be more” syndrome ~ always hunting for that reference that NAILS IT. Whatever IT is. LOL
Thanks for the breakdown on your degrees and the complexities of research. We have a lovely big library close by which I love to visit. It houses a theatre as well with excellent acoustics.
One of the first thing I do when I move to a new place is go to the library & get a library card. I love libraries. I like walking around & looking for familiar books ~ like finding old friends & saying hello. LOL
I have five books out from the Buffalo & Erie County Library at the moment.
I often go to the State University of New York at Buffalo, of which I am an alumnus, to use their libraries. I love Lockwood Library. It’s one of those places that feels like home.
Oh wow you are definitely a big book nerd! I find libraries cleansing on the whole. In fact anywhere there are lots of books I like to revel in its ambience. A bit like meandering the few old record music and movie shops and arts and craft markets still about.
Oh I quickly looked up ‘Lockwood library’ in Buffalo and it looks charming. I can see why you are so attached to it.
I have over 1000 books myself. Yeah, I’m definitely a book nerd. LOL
So you are a hoarder as well! Do you have a library in your house? My small bookcase is full, so I’ll probably sell my current assortment (except for a few rare collectables) and start a new batch to accumulate.
Yes, what would be the master bedroom of this house is the library. I have one full wall of books. The shelf is made of collected milk crates ~ I have over 40 of those. Another wall is smaller book shelves, a few from my mother who just died. I am always rearranging books & trying to find room for more. I just got a new book from Thriftbooks.com yesterday. I am currently reading 6 books. Yeah, I know that’s crazy.
Your makeshift bookshelf from milk crates is ingenious. On compulsive accumulation, I find it almost abhorrent except for books. The more, the better I say.
I have never read more than one book at a time, except when I was in college. You make ‘avid reader’ look timid by comparison lol
I’m very sorry to read about your mother. My condolences for your recent loss and what must be a very difficult time for you.
I’m not into hoarding, I just like books & I decided when I was a little girl that I was going to have my own library when I grew up & that’s just about the only thing I wanted as a child that came to be.
Thank you for your kind thoughts about my mother. She used to take all of us to the library every Saturday afternoon. I remember getting my first library card when I was 5 years old. 🙂
You have some lovely memories about books and your family, and I’m glad reading has remained your passion. I remember my grandmother borrowing stacks of books from the library and devouring them like a woman possessed, in between playing her beloved piano. Sometimes I wish we could return to that pre-digital, analogue world.