Folsom Prison Blues

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Written by: Cash
Produced by: Sam Phillips
Released: Jan. '56 on Sun
Charts: 18 weeks
Top spot: No. 32

Cash first recorded "Folsom Prison Blues," one of his earliest songs, for Sun in 1956. But it was the thrilling, electric '67 version, live at the prison, that came to define his outlaw persona. The most famous line, "I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die," Cash said he wrote while "trying to think of the worst reason . . . for killing another person." He added, "It did come to mind quite easily, though."

Appears on: The Essential Johnny Cash (Columbia)

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