If Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno, why was he in a CA prison?

The Big Cheese · #1 03-10-2005, 07:49 AM

You've heard, I've always wondered. If he shot a man in Reno(just to watch him die), why was he sitting in a prison in California(Folsom prison)?

Chefguy · #2 03-10-2005, 07:51 AM

Alaska ships its hardtimers out to Arizona. Perhaps Nevada ships theirs to CA.

slortar · #3 03-10-2005, 07:51 AM

Because it rolls off the tongue better than Ferndale?

Askia · #4 03-10-2005, 07:51 AM

WAG: He was singing about a crime that he WASN'T convicted for.

Shoeless · #5 03-10-2005, 07:51 AM

Just a WAG - is Folsom a Federal pen?

The Big Cheese · #6 03-10-2005, 07:58 AM

what's a WAG?

and my first sentence should have said "You've heard it.."
and of course I'm referring to Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash.

UncleRojelio · #7 03-10-2005, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Big Cheese

what's a WAG?

Wild Ass Guess

astorian · #8 03-10-2005, 08:16 AM

Well, the only California town that really scans is Fresno. Let's try it

"I shot a man in Fresno... just to watch him die."

Nope, doesn't quite work!

More seriously, MAYBE the narrator of the song is a guy who's lived a long, violent, criminal life that BEGAN with shooting a man in Reno... and which eventually led him to incarceration at Folsom.

Remember, that line comes immediately AFTER his recollection that his mother had always urged him to be a good away and avoid guns. Maybe shooting that guy in Reno was just the first of many things he'd done out of sheer meanness, in defiance of Mama's wishes.

keeper0 · #9 03-10-2005, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astorian

More seriously, MAYBE the narrator of the song is a guy who's lived a long, violent, criminal life that BEGAN with shooting a man in Reno... and which eventually led him to incarceration at Folsom.

This brings up an important point. Johnny Cash didn't shoot anybody. Mr. Cash may not have been an exemplary role model in all ways, but he never shot anyone and never served time.

The character in the song did so.

Quote:

Remember, that line comes immediately AFTER his recollection that his mother had always urged him to be a good away and avoid guns. Maybe shooting that guy in Reno was just the first of many things he'd done out of sheer meanness, in defiance of Mama's wishes.

This was always my interpretation, too. The shooting of the man was only one of many crimes, but was indicative of how little he cared about what he was doing or why.

"I'm just visiting Springfield Prison. I get to sleep at home tonight!"

Fear Itself · #10 03-10-2005, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astorian

Well, the only California town that really scans is Fresno.

How about "I shot a man in Chino..."

Governor Quinn · #11 03-10-2005, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoeless

Just a WAG - is Folsom a Federal pen?

No

Ephemera · #12 03-10-2005, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keeper0

This brings up an important point. Johnny Cash didn't shoot anybody. Mr. Cash may not have been an exemplary role model in all ways, but he never shot anyone and never served time.

"Served time" might have the more specific connotation of being in prison as opposed to jail and, if that is the case, what you say is true but Johnny Cash was incarcerated numerous times during his life, although usually only overnight.

Dewey Finn · #13 03-10-2005, 10:08 AM

Didn't he first play that song at Folsom Prison? That, more than anything, might explain the discrepancy between the location of the shooting and the name of the prison.

Bearflag70 · #14 03-10-2005, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keeper0

This brings up an important point. Johnny Cash didn't shoot anybody. Mr. Cash may not have been an exemplary role model in all ways, but he never shot anyone and never served time.

The character in the song did so.

WHAT!? And all this time I wondered why they let that hardened crminal do all those concerts.

ElvisL1ves · #15 03-10-2005, 10:35 AM

Cash wrote the song in 1956, the prison concert wasn't until 1968. The train keeps rollin' down to San Antone, FWIW.

Guess what, kiddies: Merle Haggard didn't really "turn 21 in prison doin' life without parole" either, even though there's no doubt his "Mama Tried". He did do some time when young and stupid, though, but Cash didn't until he got into the depths of drug addiction and sympathetic cops would sometimes let him sleep it off in a cell.

Ol'Gaffer · #16 03-10-2005, 11:47 AM

Dewey, you might be thinking of the song San Quentin which (I believe) he first performed in 1969 for the Live At San Quentin album.

Soul Brother Number Two · #17 03-10-2005, 04:56 PM

Marty Robbins didn't either, Elvis.

Soul Brother Number Two · #18 03-10-2005, 04:58 PM

Shoot me now. I don't know why I thought it was Marty Robbings wrote that song. Sorry Elvis.

pravnik · #19 03-10-2005, 05:10 PM

Cash's explanation:

Quote:

Marshall had also photographed Cash's visit to Folsom Prison, which led to his most popular album. The photographer asked him about the incongruity of one of his most famous songs, ``Folsom Prison Blues,'' in which the singer claims "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die,'' but serves his prison time not in Nevada but in California.

"That's called poetic license,'' Cash told him.

http://maninblack.net/memorial/world_jc_11.html

Alternatively, Reno is near the California border; if he'd stood in California and shot a man in Reno, he could be tried for murder in both jurisdictions.

pravnik · #20 03-10-2005, 05:16 PM

Or, if he'd committed any portion of the crime in California...say he was paid to kill him in California and drove to Reno to shoot him...that wouldn't work, though, since he siad he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, unless he's lying, which convicts do occassionally. Maybe killing for compensation carries a stiffer penalty. Okay, say he shot him in Reno and then drove him to California, where he died. Or something.

Triskadecamus · #21 03-10-2005, 05:41 PM

What if he shot him in Reno, and then the guy staggered over the border to California, and the he followed him, just to watch him die? Who gets to try him then?

kaylasdad99 · #22 03-10-2005, 05:59 PM

I like pravnik's better. He shot the guy in Reno just to watch him die. but the guy was taking too long to die, and he realized that he was late for an appointment (birthday party, root canal, job interview, I dunno; make up your own appointment) in California. So he loaded him into the car and drove to the other side of the lake.

pravnik · #23 03-10-2005, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triskadecamus

What if he shot him in Reno, and then the guy staggered over the border to California, and the he followed him, just to watch him die? Who gets to try him then?

Depends on how the law is written. At common law, jurisdiction lies in the place where the fatal force impinges on the body (there's a 1859 case where a guy shot in New York and died in New Jersey), but modern stautes usually say that if any element of the crime occurred there, the state has jurisdiction. Some states have statutes like the following from New York, which I lifted from an old thread:

Quote:

S 20.20 Geographical jurisdiction of offenses; jurisdiction of state.
2. Even though none of the conduct constituting such offense may have occurred within this state:
(a) The offense committed was a result offense and the result occurred within this state. If the offense was one of homicide, it is presumed that the result, namely the death of the victim, occurred within this state if the victim`s body or a part thereof was found herein;

So theoretically, both states could have jurisdiction.

pravnik · #24 03-10-2005, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaylasdad99

I like pravnik's better. He shot the guy in Reno just to watch him die. but the guy was taking too long to die, and he realized that he was late for an appointment (birthday party, root canal, job interview, I dunno; make up your own appointment...

All three at once.

Mister Rik · #25 03-10-2005, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triskadecamus

What if he shot him in Reno, and then the guy staggered over the border to California, and the he followed him, just to watch him die? Who gets to try him then?

If a rooster lays an egg on the peak of a roof, which way does it roll?

I remember Johnny saying that, when he wrote that line, he wanted to come up with the absolute worst possible reason to kill somebody. "Just to watch him die" is what came out.

CaveMike · #26 03-10-2005, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElvisL1ves

Cash wrote the song in 1956, the prison concert wasn't until 1968.

All Music asserts that he wrote the song while in the Air Force during the Korean War. He left the Air Force in '54.

My favorite song on At Folsom Prison is Cocaine Blues. He gets the inmates so worked up, they sound like they are ready to bust out of the place.

sturmhauke · #27 03-11-2005, 01:11 AM

If you were standing in California and shot a man in Reno, you'd have to be using artillery. It's close, but not that close.

HMS Irruncible · #28 03-11-2005, 03:35 AM

So Johnny Cash also didn't take a shot of cocaine and shoot his woman down?

Dang.

Snooooopy · #29 03-11-2005, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astorian

Well, the only California town that really scans is Fresno. Let's try it

"I shot a man in Fresno... just to watch him die."

If you were in Fresno, wouldn't you shoot yourself instead?

China Guy · #30 03-11-2005, 05:42 AM

I did time at Folsom - high school to be exact. Back then, the prison was a major employer. Many of my high school buddies fathers were guards. Most were pretty heavy drinkers to be polite about it. Many of the people in my high school ended up as either guards or inmates.

The address of Folsom prison is actually a town called "Represa California." I've been inside the "gated" community of Represa many a time. Heck, that's where we stored the homecoming float so other grades couldn't sabatoge it since you have to get in through a guarded gate and it is technically part of the prison.

There is no escaping modern life, Folsom prison now has a mission statement:

Folsom State Prison - Mission Statement

California's second oldest prison, Folsom primarily houses Level II and Level III inmates. In addition, it has a minimum security unit. At Folsom, a walled perimeter encompasses five general population cell blocks and an Administrative Segregation Unit. This portion of the prison includes one of the state's best-known prison industries, the license plate factory.

Mark Shepherd, Warden (A)
300 Prison Road
Represa, CA 95671

Gatopescado · #31 03-11-2005, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triskadecamus

What if he shot him in Reno, and then the guy staggered over the border to California, and the he followed him, just to watch him die? Who gets to try him then?

Longest stagger since the "Baatan Death March"! It would be all uphill, too!

ElvisL1ves · #32 03-11-2005, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NattoGuy

So Johnny Cash also didn't take a shot of cocaine and shoot his woman down?

Dang.

Maybe he shot the deputy?

Mycroft H. · #33 03-11-2005, 09:28 AM

No, he shot the sheriff... but he didn't shoot the deputy.

Fear Itself · #34 03-11-2005, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mycroft H.

No, he shot the sheriff... but he didn't shoot the deputy.

Wow, Johnny Cash was really Bob Marley. It true, you never saw them together, and they are both dead...

Ilsa_Lund · #35 03-11-2005, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Wow, Johnny Cash was really Bob Marley. It true, you never saw them together, and they are both dead...

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
’cause none of them can stop the time.
And let that cocaine BEEEEEE!

The Big Cheese · #36 03-11-2005, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Wow, Johnny Cash was really Bob Marley. It true, you never saw them together, and they are both dead...

And I've seen Johnny Cash's house halfway between Montego Bay & Ocho Rios in...Jamaica!
Seriously.

lieu · #37 03-11-2005, 10:35 AM

I always thought he shot a Californian and hit the guy in his Renal. This thread sure put that to rest.

Mycroft H. · #38 03-11-2005, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Wow, Johnny Cash was really Bob Marley. It true, you never saw them together, and they are both dead...

:cue reggae music:

“I fell into a burning ring of fire, mon…” (Background: A yo yo yo)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Advertisements