Folsom Prison Blues

Cash wrote it in 1953 after seeing a film about Folsom prison while in the Air Force in Germany. He said he tried to think up the worst reason a person could have for killing someone, and called the move from Reno to Folsom poetic license. The melody was accused of borrowing from Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues, and in the early 1970s Cash paid Jenkins about 75,000 dollars.

He recorded it at Sun Studio in Memphis on 30 July 1955 with producer Sam Phillips, Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant. There was no drummer: Cash imitated a snare by sliding paper under the guitar strings. The single came out on 15 December 1955, backed with So Doggone Lonesome, and the song entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Live

Cash opened most of his concerts with it. The version recorded at Folsom on 13 January 1968 was released as a single on 30 April 1968, reached number one on the country chart and number 32 on the Hot 100, and won the 1969 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. The audience cheering was added in post-production, according to Michael Streissguth. A shorter reading also closes the San Quentin album.