I am always amazed that Johnny wrote the words to "San Quentin" the day before he sang it for the first time in front of the prisoners at SQ. He also sang "Boy named Sue" for the first time, reading from a poem, by Shel Silverstein. He sang "San Quentin" the first time, pausing between phrases, as the prisoners reacted wildly!
They cried out "One more time"!
There was electric in the air, and Johnny defused it, by asking for a drink of water. As a guard brought a glass of water out, the audience BOO'd loudly, and after a drink, he looked in the glass, pretended to pick something out, throw it on the floor, and STOMPED on it! He then went on to repeat the song, this time at the normal speed, plowing through their reactions. It was a powerful moment, and he was in control.
"Cash, who had written “Folsom Prison Blues” in 1953, was intrigued by the thought of meeting inmates—and performing his song at the prison that inspired it. In November 1966, he put on a show at Folsom, and in 1968 he decided to return to record an album".
Mugshot of Johnny Cash taken at Folsom Prison in 1966, the first time he performed there, apparently taken as a joke with the guards.
You've got some very impressive history there, till this day Johnny comes on the radio when I'm driving, I crack it right up like an 18-year-old... Lorie gets a kick out of me when I do that... LOL... Thanks for sharing!!
The blue denim jumpsuit that Johnny Cash was wearing in the famous one finger salute photograph has sold at auction for $50,000 dollars. Cash wore the jumpsuit during the rehearsal for a concert at San Quentin State Prison in 1969. He reportedly “gave the finger” in response to photographer Jim Marshall’s request for a “shot for the warden.”
San Quentin is where Cash played his first-ever prison concert on January 1, 1958, A concert that helped set Merle Haggard (then a 20-year-old San Quentin inmate) on the path forward...
"Yes, Merle Haggard was at that show. A streak of teenage mischief landed the “Mama Tried” outlaw in San Quentin Prison by age 21 and, as a by-product, granted him admission to a life-changing concert hosted by the Man in Black himself, Johnny Cash. "
"Merle Haggard spent the last few months of his life battling the pneumonia that finally felled him. During those months, he spent a significant amount of time in the hospital, which caused him to cancel a couple of tours. When it was suggested that he not go back on the road and rest at home, he did…while also walking across the road to his studio to record a few nuggets he’d been writing while in the hospital. His final song is titled “Kern River Blues,” which is about his memories of leaving Bakersfield in the late ‘70s. "
Yap! The politically correct police are everywhere and they are watching everything. Even old songs! They started with an old song, "Beat Me Baby 8 to the bar." Now, they are after Johnny Cash.