A música Folsom Prison Blues foi inspirada por uma notícia sobre a prisão de Folsom que Johnny Cash viu no filme Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951) enquanto servia na Força Aérea dos EUA na Alemanha Ocidental. Cash se sentiu compassivo pelos homens encarcerados e imaginou como seria estar preso, resultando na conhecida linha I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. A música mistura a tristeza do tempo perdido na prisão com o som icônico ... Ver mais [+] do trem, simbolizando a liberdade fora das paredes da prisão.
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I hear the train a-coming, it's rolling round the bend
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and I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when
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I'm stuck at Folsom Prison, and time keeps draggin' on
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But that train keeps a-rollin' on down to San Antone
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When I was just a baby, my Mama told me 'Son,
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always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns.'
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But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die
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when I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry
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I bet there's rich folks eatin' from a fancy dining car
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They're probably drinking coffee and smoking big cigars
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But I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free
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But those people keep a moving, and that's what tortures me
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Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine
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I bet I'd move it on a little farther down the line
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Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay
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And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away