# Johnny Cash "Stole" Folsom Prison Blues????? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097 "2010-02-23T08:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/1 "2010-02-23T08:18:52Z")
It’s no secret that I love “The Man In Black” and anything he’s ever done, but just a little while ago, on Public Broadcasting, I saw a Soundstage special on him, and my jaw dropped when I heard Marshal Grant (The Tennessee Three’s bass player) explain that the song was taken almost word for word from another artist. Not only did he _say_ it, but the other song was played on the special and one could _see_ the similarity of the words as the sheet music was shown. Here’s a link. You may need to scroll down. [ExactlyHowLong.com – Your How Long Questions Answered Here](http://www.famousplagiarists.com/entertainment.htm). I know about “My Sweet Lord” and “He’s So Fine”, but this stands out like a turd in a punchbowl. Not taking anything away from the man’s talents, but this is disturbing. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/2 "2010-02-23T08:23:57Z")
I have to add that JR did settle out of court with Gordon Jenkins, so I guess it’s mostly a moot point, but Marshal thought it important to mention it in the interview. Q ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/3 "2010-02-23T13:19:21Z")
Moved The Game Room --\> Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/4 "2010-02-23T14:46:36Z")
From a comment (by **kurunta** ) on the YouTube video of [“Crescent City Blues”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3M3Igjnbhs): “Cash told Sam Philipps, that the lyrics are from [Gordon] Jenkins. Philips disregarded this fact and gave no credits to Jenkins. 1968, after his live-recording At Folsom Prison, Cash paid $ 75.000 to Jenkins, because he was sued by Jenkins.” [This Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_Prison_Blues#History) mentions Cash “[not] crediting or getting permission from Jenkins…” Somewhere in the middle of the above descriptions of what Cash did or didn’t do, [this article](http://articles.latimes.com/2006/aug/22/entertainment/et-backtracking22) (page 2) quotes Cash as saying: “So when I later went to Sun to record the song, I told Sam Phillips that I rewrote an old song to make my song, and that was that. Sometime later I met up with Gordon Jenkins and we talked about what had happened, and everything was right.” I would say it appears Cash made some attempt to do the right thing, but perhaps didn’t pursue it vigorously enough at first. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/5 "2010-02-23T16:19:05Z")
A little bit off-topic, but I think one of the most…_interesting_… moments in recording history is when JC sings the line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”, and the crowd _cheers_. Hmmm. Not your usual audience. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/6 "2010-02-23T16:45:34Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > A little bit off-topic, but I think one of the most…_interesting_.. moments in recording history is when JC sings the line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”, and the crowd _cheers_. Hmmm. Not your usual audience. Keb Mo covered the song, but changed the line to: _They say I shot a man in Reno, that was just a lie_. As much as I love Mr Moore, I’m always a bit bummed that he feels the need to change a line in a song. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-stole-folsom-prison-blues/530097/7 "2010-02-23T16:48:01Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > A little bit off-topic, but I think one of the most…_interesting_.. moments in recording history is when JC sings the line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”, and the crowd _cheers_. Hmmm. Not your usual audience. Perhaps even more interesting is that it didn’t actually happen that way. From [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_Prison_Blues#History): “…the recording’s most notable feature — the whoops from the audience at the ‘Reno’ line — was actually added in post-production, according to Michael Streissguth. A special on the Walk the Line DVD indicates that the prisoners were careful not to cheer at any of Cash’s comments about the prison itself, fearing reprisal from guards.”