Back again to pick songs from a year. This time it’s on to 1968, which again I’m not radically familiar with the time period. This was nine years before I was born so this is me going back to songs I’ve heard in the years since.
And as always, this is more of a “five of my favorite songs” kind of thing as opposed to “my five favorite songs” of any year. Nothing radically definitive here, just me going through stuff. Let’s get to it.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower
Up first is something definitive, this being the definitive cover song. Hendrix worked on this before Bob Dylan even released his version and Hendrix’s cover was out only six months after Dylan’s original. And Jon Bon Jovi’s cousin was the recording engineer in with Hendrix for long sessions of recording guitar tracks over and over again.
But in the end what came out was a masterpiece of a song. Hendrix did such wonders with the song that Dylan wound up working some of the cover into his performances. The song is a crazy, mind-melting trip through what sounds like an apocalyptic wasteland. There’s really nothing more I can say, the song is just flat out amazing.
Johnny Cash – Cocaine Blues
Another cover song here, as Cash pulled out this old time song for his famous set at Folsom Prison. A twisted tale of Willy Lee, who gets messed up on the white powder and shoots his woman for having other lovers. Lee runs off to Mexico buts gets caught and put away for life in Folsom (it was San Quentin in older versions).
This is one hell of a heavy song for a country performance, though also one fitting for the audience Cash was playing for. Cash said he almost “did himself in” playing it, it’s a pretty hard hitting tune to play out with basic country instruments. And it’s a magnificent highlight of a landmark performance.
The Beatles – Back In The USSR
For a bit of a spoiler alert – this is the only Beatles song to appear on my lists. And the one I pick is essentially a joke song, this one mocks up the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry and clowns around with their takes on the USA. And Ringo was pissed off during this time so Paul had to do the drums, or something, I’m not entirely sure.
But this is a fantastic boogie, it’s both funny and also a really good song on its own merits. And it was a great way to open an album, especially one with all the crazy shit that the White Album had on it. Paul and company took some flack for recording this back then but the song outlived the Soviet Union and it’s been a widely played and celebrated track.
Cream – White Room
One more Cream song for the list before the group bowed out. This one is another crazy psychedelic offering but was actually just about Jack Bruce’s poet friend who had just got an apartment or something. It’s also probably about drugs, I don’t know that but it has to be because these lyrics are totally crazy. Another fine jam from a group that did more than they probably want credit for to get heavy metal off and running.
Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
A little more country to wrap this one up. But this is not just a country song, Mama Tried was a huge hit for Merle and has been all over the place since its recording over 50 years ago. The song is partially a look at Merle’s own early life – he was a petty criminal growing up and wound up doing a stretch in San Quentin. A series of events with other inmates led to him turning his life around, and also he happened to catch a Johnny Cash performance while locked up.
This song is far more tragic than Merle’s own life, though. The guy here gets put away for life, even with his mother doing her damnedest to keep her son from going astray. It’s a sad, sad tale that gets to just about anyone who listens to the song. This was 18 And Life long before Skid Row was a thing.
That covers it for 1968. Just eight more of these and we’ll actually get to years that I was around for.
Speaking of years, a quick note – today marks the third anniversary of this site. I’ll have a more in-depth acknowledgment of that some time next week. Until then, enjoy your weekend.
It’s time for a new series. This one is really quick and easy but it’s also going to run for a long time.
This is a very simple premise that I’ve seen several other people hammer out on their blogs. I’m simply going to pick five songs from a year. It should be thought of more as “five of my favorite songs from that year” as opposed to “my five favorite songs from that year,” this isn’t terribly definitive. It’s just a fun thing to do.
I decided to start this off with 1967 as it’s where I find stuff that really sticks out to me music-wise. Bear in mind that I wasn’t around until ten years after 1967, but it’s a year that has stuff in it that resonates so it’s where I’ll start.
I know a lot of other people ended their runs at various points. For me, it’s honestly not that tough to keep this going all the way through 2024. I’ll go ahead and run this for, uh, 58 weeks or however many posts I need to get to that point, so obviously this will run well into next year.
Enough about that, this is pretty simple and doesn’t need a ton of exposition to get it going. Here are five of my favorite songs from 1967.
Johnny Cash and June Carter – Jackson
This one was written a few years earlier but got famous off of the Cash-Carter duet. Like many I was at one time not into country music at all, but Johnny Cash was always an exception to that. This hellraising song about a guy who wants to go wild because he’s bored in his marriage is always a welcome listen.
Cream – Sunshine Of Your Love
It’s not hard at all to include this hit track from Cream. The band were massively influential in hard rock and what would become heavy metal just a few years later. The psychedelic edge to rock from this era really caught my ear, as you’ll clearly see just looking down this list. The song is a trip but it also pulls no punches, jamming all the way through.
This was also important based on who the song was inspired by. Jack Bruce came up with this after seeing Jimi Hendrix live. Hendrix himself played the song as tribute to Cream after the troubled trio announced their breakup a year later, Hendrix was not aware the song was an ode to him.
Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit
This ode to Alice In Wonderland is world famous so there’s not a ton I have to really bring up about it. Another crazy, trippy song that’s insanely memorable and also over just as soon as it starts. Just an awesome song to crank up and I wish it was about ten minutes longer, honestly. But it’s also perfect just the way it is.
Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Another monolithic entry to the list. This song is a sad dirge but also, again, quite the trip. And while England is clearly spoiled for great music, this is actually one of the biggest songs to ever come from the country. It conquered more of the world than the British Empire did. The crazy organ piece along with the sad tale of a guy and girl splitting up is just mind blowing.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Purple Haze
This is why I started at 1967 – this was what got me into music. I was a 5 year old kid staying over and my grandparents’ place overnight, my uncle was out at prom so I was sleeping over in his room. I spent the evening playing his tapes and 8 tracks, and when I got to the first Hendrix album my puny little mind was absolutely blown.
Hendrix has been one of my favorite artists since this early point in my life and Purple Haze is perhaps my favorite song of his. This song is crazy, electric and just amazing. And another, perhaps largely uncredited, contribution to the development of heavy metal.
That’s all for 1967. This damn thing will run all the way into September of ’25 I think, so buckle up and enjoy this and the next 57 Fridays of songs.
2024 has been fairly hot with releases so far and that tone isn’t changing as the year winds on. News dropped recently that none other than the Man In Black himself, Johnny Cash will have a new album hit stores on June 28th. Songwriter will mark Cash’s 72nd studio album (!) and 5th since his death in 2003.
Songwriter is an album that Cash recorded demos for in early 1993 and then shelved, as it was not long after when he was approached by Rick Rubin. The Rubin collaboration launched a late-career revitalization with the American Recordings series that grew Cash’s legend up to and beyond his death, so the Songwriter demos remained an afterthought.
These demos would be discovered many years later by Cash and June Carter’s son John Carter Cash. The younger Cash presented them to engineer David Ferguson, who had worked in that role on the American Recordings series. Cash and Ferguson stripped down everything from the demos but for Johnny’s vocals and guitar (with one exception) and then set about finding a new cast to reshape the music.
Joining in to help flesh out the album were Marty Stuart and Harry Stinson, as well as guest spots from Vince Gill and Dan Auerbach. There is also another posthumous presence on the record, as Waylon Jennings had dropped in to sing on a few songs with Cash on the original recordings.
One other interesting quirk of Songwriter – many of Johnny Cash’s albums featured a hefty dose of cover songs. This upcoming album is different in that it features all original material. Two of the songs, Ride On and Like A Soldier, were re-recorded and used on American Recordings.
With the news of the album also came the first single, a quick two-minute tune called Well Alright. The song is upbeat and pretty amusing, it’s simply about meeting up with a gal at a laundromat. It’s a song that easily puts a smile on your face and is maybe just ever so slightly suggestive in a phrase or two, but nothing out of bounds. It also sounds really good – merging Cash’s 1993 recording with 2023 musicians worked out great and the production is crystal clear without being too sterile.
I know posthumous releases can be a touch subject in the music world, and Johnny Cash is reported to have enough unreleased material to release an album a year for eons if his legacy caretakers so desired. But Songwriter is filling in a gap from a moment in time just before Cash had his last big break and I consider it an important offering for the Cash catalog. I’m also totally fine with posthumous releases, I honestly just want to hear the music so bring it on. I’m looking forward to the end of June and the rest of this album.
This week I’m heading in to one of music’s most significant and unique live albums. One of America’s most iconic performers and a totally captive audience forged history one Sunday morning in a California prison.
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison
Released May 6, 1969 via Columbia Records
My Favorite Tracks – Folsom Prison Blues, Cocaine Blues, The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer
The history of Johnny Cash and prison performances goes all the way back to 1956 and his second single, Folsom Prison Blues. After release the song circulated among inmates and it became a favorite among them, they would write Cash asking him to perform at their prisons. Cash obliged and began a run of prison concerts. Both the inmates and Cash enjoyed the performances and the shows became an occasional part of his schedule.
By 1967 Cash had a bit of a career layoff, the given reason being drug use. He got cleaned up a bit and then approached a newly-reorganized Columbia Records country division about doing a live prison album. A maverick exec agreed and the plan was put in place to record live at Folsom. It took a while for the show to materialize but it was finally recorded in January 1968.
Cash and his outfit recorded two full sets on a Sunday morning – much of the material that would make the original release is from the first set, only two songs from the second were included as the band sounded tired and down on the later set. A 1999 re-issue saw 3 more tracks included, and this edition is what I’ll be discussing today. A later 2008 release saw both sets offered in full as well as a documentary in a Legacy edition. I am currently looking to get that version and may do a rundown of it when I get it, but today will be a more comprehensive look at the wider release.
The album opens with Folsom Prison Blues, which is an obvious choice to open a concert at Folsom but was also Cash’s long-time opener anyway. The song runs on a pretty upbeat tempo despite being about a man languishing in prison while free people ride the trains to anywhere. It’s pretty easy to picture yourself on the train rolling along to the music, going to anywhere but Folsom Prison. The infamous line “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” is here, though it was cut out of the single release after the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
Up next is Busted, a song originally penned by Harlan Howard. It is a sad but also funny song about being broke, something that hasn’t changed much since the 1960’s. Then comes Dark As A Dungeon, a tragic tale about working in a coal mine written by Merle Travis. The song resonated through the mining community as mining work is extremely tough, though on this live cut there is some funny banter between Cash and an inmate. After the song Cash lets the crowd know the concert is being recorded and you can’t say “hell and shit.” Cash then goes into one of his originals, I Still Miss Someone. It is a brief lament about an old lover and would become a frequent setlist inclusion after the Folsom concert.
It’s now on to Cocaine Blues, another tale about ending up put away for murder and one of the highlights of the record. The song was originally written by Troy Arnall and recorded by Roy Hogsed in 1944. Cash’s version changes up a few lyrics to suit the Folsom audience and also throws the word “bitch” in, something that got a bit of discussion through the years and Cash went back and forth on through different versions.
Cocaine Blues sees Willy Lee shoot his woman for being unfaithful, then he hides out in Mexico but is found and brought back for trial. The lesson is apparently not to use cocaine, as opposed to maybe don’t shoot people. Though I guess the song isn’t as interesting without the murder, I don’t know. The song was a hit with the inmates and also the people on the outside.
Up next is 25 Minutes To Go which was originally composed by Shel Silverstein. It’s a funny look at someone condemned to execution who is counting down each minute by observing what’s about to happen to him. Cash famously skips a few of the minutes in the song but his delivery is spot on. Cash then next announces he’s going to do Orange Blossom Special and then do a few ballads by himself. He also has some trouble locating his setlist in a funny bit of banter.
Orange Blossom Special is an old 1938 tune from Erwin T. Rouse that was a popular hit at bluegrass festivals and a favorite of fiddlers to play. Cash had recorded a studio cut of the song a few years prior to the Folsom concert and brought it out live here. He also used a harmonica to replace the fiddle parts and the performance marks yet another highlight from the set.
And now it’s into a trio of sad ballads. First is The Long Black Veil, a 1959 song first recorded by Lefty Frizzell. In it a man is executed despite not having committed the murder, the problem is his alibi – he was in bed with his best friend’s wife during the murder. Send A Picture To Mother is a Cash original that sees a man in prison relaying to his released cellmate to give regards to the narrator’s family. Ending the trilogy is The Wall, a Howard Harlan-penned song about a prisoner who is lovesick and dies trying to climb the prison wall.
Up next is a trio of funny songs Cash had done on a novelty album a few years prior. First comes Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog, written by Jack Clement and originally performed by Cash. The poor dog keeps eating the owner’s chickens and is the target of contempt. Clement also wrote the next track, Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart, a funny track that laments the loss of the narrator’s woman. The humor wraps up with Joe Bean, a young man who is being executed for a murder he didn’t commit. Joe’s mother knows his alibi – he was robbing a train when the murder was committed. The governor doesn’t pardon Joe but does wish him a happy birthday, which falls on the same date as his execution.
Cash would then introduce his wife June Carter to duet on a song. There’s some funny banter between the two before they go into Jackson, one of the more famous offerings from the pair. The song was originally written in 1963 by Billy Wheeler and Jerry Leibler. Cash and Carter had a hit with their version in 1967 and the performance of it here was a huge hit with the crowd.
The next two selections are from the day’s second set. First is Give My Love To Rose. It’s a Cash original where a man finds a dying person who was just released from prison. The ex-con was trying to make it back to see his family one last time but won’t make it so the man agrees to give his love to Rose. Cash then pulls out another original, I Got Stripes. Its another tune lamenting being in prison, assuredly another hit with the crowd of prisoners.
Up next is The Legend Of John Henry’s Hammer. The origins of the song are murky but are centered around a real African-American freedman who drove steel on the railroad lines. Henry famously raced a steam powered machine and won the race, though it cost him his life.
Cash’s rendition includes the sounds of spikes being driven and the various sounds of the steam engine. In this version John Henry bests the steam machine but succumbs to over-exertion the next morning. It is a true man versus machine tale that highlights the encroachment of technology on human life. John Henry has to drive steel to feed his large and destitute family, the advancement of technology doesn’t do him any favors.
The set heads into the home stretch with Green, Green Grass Of Home. The song was a very popular standard written by Curly Putnam and performed by Porter Wagoner and Tom Jones, among many others. A man is walking back through his hometown recounting memories, though in reality he is actually walking to his execution. The song has a very uplifting feel despite its pretty morose twist.
The set ends with Greystone Chapel, which is a very unique bit of lore from this live set. The song was written by Folsom inmate Glen Sherley, the song is about the very chapel at Folsom. The Folsom minister gave Cash a tape of the song the night before the live show and Cash decided to perform it. The song is a praise tune that uplifts the bastion of the chapel in the face of Folsom prison.
Note – the story of Glen Sherley is an interesting one, but one that won’t fit in today’s already-crowded post. I’ll do some digging on his tragic tale and offer up a separate post later on.
The band jams out a bit to wrap up the set, to a thunderous response from the crowd. The recording ends with the second set’s conclusion, which introduces Johnny Cash’s father Ray, as well as the warden (who doesn’t get the same loving reception Mr. Cash does).
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison was an unconventional experiment that paid huge dividends for Cash’s flagging career. The record would top the country charts and also spend a very long time on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, the precursor to the Billboard 200. The album spent a total of 124 weeks on the album chart.
The legacy of At Folsom Prison is vast. This live set has books and documentaries about it and it is widely hailed as one of music’s greatest live performances. It was a landmark moment in Johnny Cash’s career and set him on a course for more hitmaking in the early 1970’s, including a handful of other prison performances. This was one of the Man In Black’s several career reinventions, a theme he’d continue until his death in 2003.
Beyond the scope of the album’s place in music, Cash was also noted for his egalitarian treatment of prison inmates. Many people simply cast off prisoners as people suffering the consequences of their actions, but Cash approached them as humans and did not let them rot forgotten. It’s a type of outreach that’s hard to quantify but certainly had its effects. One 1958 Cash performance at San Quentin had a great deal of influence on one of the inmates there – a guy by the name of Merle Haggard. By the time Cash was releasing live prison albums, Haggard was well on the way to his own country stardom.
Johnny Cash was a country legend, but also didn’t always fit the scene. His out-of-the-box approach to doing a live album shaped a legacy otherwise unseen in music. It is a vital piece of country music history and music as a whole.
The Crooked Wanderer 