“Folsom Prison Blues” is a song by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, based on material composed by Gordon Jenkins. Written in 1953, it was first recorded and released as a single in 1955, and later included on his debut studio album Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! (1957), as the album’s 11th track. The song combines elements from two popular folk styles, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash continued to use for the rest of his career. It was one of Cash’s signature songs. Additionally, this recording was included on the compilation album All Aboard the Blue Train (1962). In June 2014, Rolling Stone ranked it number 51 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time.
Cash performed the song live to a crowd of inmates at California’s Folsom State Prison in 1968 for his live album At Folsom Prison (1968), released through Columbia Records. This version became a number-one hit on the country music charts and reached number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same year. This version also won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, at the 11th Annual Grammy Awards in 1969.
Original 1955 recording
Cash was inspired to write this song after seeing the movie Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) while serving in West Germany in the United States Air Force at Landsberg, Bavaria (itself the location of a famous prison). Cash recounted how he came up with the line “But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”: “I sat with my pen in my hand, trying to think up the worst reason a person could have for killing another person, and that’s what came to mind.”