Paul J Penton – Songwriter

The day Cash Played Folsom Prison

Based on an article I read in ‘Sunday life’ – original story appeared in The Telegraph U.K.

I’d been living in Los Angeles
since I was seven years old
my daddy was a truck driver
mama worked the county court
when I was 11 they divorced
and I started doing some bad things
Pretty soon I was into drugs
And from there things just went from bad to worse
before I knew it I was under arrest
sentenced forty years to life
by the time that I was twenty five

[in Folsom]
Every where that you were lookin’ -
was down the barrel of a gun
you always had to check your walk
in case you took just one step wrong
When I stretched out my arms at night
I could touch both cold brick walls
things were pretty rough in there
it WAS a thousand living hells

and I was in there on the day
that Cash played Folsom prison
The only lights they had on him
were hanging from the ceiling
Johnny and his Tennessee three
and June Carter his wife to be
They played that show for a straight four hours
I was shoutin’ and singin’ with the rest
we felt like we’d all been released
the whole 2000 of us

I’d have to say that concert day
was when my life began to change
While I was stuck in my prison cell
I got me an education
I wrote a wrap on prison reform
for which Johnny Cash was Campaignin’
That’s why he did that show that day
right there in Folsom prison

Now when I got out in ’78
with no clothing and no money
they gave me 200 bucks at the gate
and acted like I was lucky
I’d learned to carve a side of beef
While I was on the inside
and just nearby was military base
and they said they needed my knife

And I know that I’m not perfect now
but I’m not the way I was
I see so many kids these days
hangin’ on the streets
going down that same old road
I wish someone could show them
That there’s a different way
and I wonder what Johnny Cash could say
to make them change their mind