Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (1969) Movie Script
1
APPLAUSE.
MUSIC: Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash
Love is a burning thing
And it makes a fiery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire.
HE MIMICS BIRD CALL.
GUNSHOT.
HE LAUGHS.
You want to get me,
don't you? You son of a gun!
Only place I can tell
he is hurt is... He's got one little
wing bone broken. It's not hurt.
It's not every day you catch a crow.
CROW SQUAWKS.
You son of a gun, you!
I already like you, for some reason.
I'll take you home and see if you
are hurt bad, OK?
HE HUMS TO HIMSELF
If I had wings
like a grey goose got
I'd leave you
whether my heart break or not
I'd leave you
Woman, I'd leave you
I can't make my feet walk...
HE HUMS
But if I could fly like Mr Crow
Woman, I know I'd go.
Ah!
One, two, three, four...
MUSIC STARTS.
I would leave them
completely off the intro.
And I would wait
until I am into the song, you know?
Have you got a little pencil?
I would keep that flat top guitar
way up on the intro
because that is powerful.
The way... with the drum slap.
Don't you think, Bob? Yes.
I just...
Because when they come in,
I can hear it, it's kind of a
pleasant surprise, you know? Yes.
I filled it up so you can have what
you wanted to choose from.
OK, cut all intro.
As we go along, Johnny, tell me
where you want them in or out
and I'll write it down, OK?
One, two, three...
MUSIC: Land Of Israel
by Johnny Cash
From the top of Sinai
To the Sea of Galilee...
CREW CHATTERS
Every hill and plain is home
Every place is dear to me
There the breezes tell the stories
Oh, what stories they do tell
Of the mighty things that happened
In the land of Israel
Here, where Moses and the prophets
Spoke of one who would be king
Of a heavenly messiah
And the blessings he would bring
Oh, to hear again the call
All is peaceful, all is well
Upon every rock and mountain
In the land of Israel.
Where my daddy was born. Yeah.
Kings land, that's where I was born.
Oh, great.
Well, do we go right past
on this...? No, we turn.
We turned south here,
on 81, to Monticello.
We're not very far off,
then, are we now? No.
We're almost there.
When you come from
either side of that river,
and that's part of the country,
you learn to understand most
everything, you have to,
cos it's a grind from the time
you get up till you lay down.
And there ain't nothing
given to you. You sweat.
Somebody in the family sweats for
that bread that's on that plate.
Right, John? Yes.
And it's usually the whole family
it takes to make a living,
whether it's cotton... and, er, the
people that's farming the land
is not the one that gets the money.
Somebody owns it
and you get part of it.
MUSIC: Daddy Sang Bass
by Johnny Cash
I remember when I was a lad
Times were hard and things were bad
But there's a silver linin'
behind every cloud
Just poor people
That's all we were
Tryin' to make a livin'
out of black land earth
We'd get together
in a family circle singin' loud
Daddy sang bass
Mama sang tenor
Me and little brother
would join right in there
Cos singin' seems
to help a troubled soul
One of these days
and it won't be long
I'll rejoin them in a song
I'm gonna join the family circle
at the throne
No, the circle won't be broken
By and by, Lord, by and by
Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
Me and little brother
will join right in there
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
I remember after work
Mama would call in all of us
You could hear us singin'
for a country mile
Now little brother has done gone on
But I'll rejoin him in a song
We'll be together again up yonder
in a little while
Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
Me and little brother
would join right in there
Cos singin' seems to help
a troubled soul
One of these days
and it won't be long...
CHEERING.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
BAND BEGINS, HUGE CHEER
I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine
since I don't know when
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison
And time keeps draggin' on
But that train keeps a-rollin'
on down to San Antone
When I was just a baby
my mama told me, son
Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with guns
But I shot a man in Reno
just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing
I hang my head and cry...
Hey, come on!
GUITAR SOLO, CHEERING.
Ye-e-eah!
I bet there's rich folks
eating in a fancy dining car
They're probably drinking coffee
and smoking big cigars
Well, I know I had it coming
I know I can't be free
But those people keep a-moving
And that's what tortures me...
Go for it! Yeah.
GUITAR SOLO.
CHEERING
Well, if they freed me
from this prison
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move it on
a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom Prison
That's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle
blow my blues away.
MUSIC STOPS.
Do you think it's a main theme going
through country and western music?
A main message or a type of thing
you're trying to appeal to
in the country and western songs
that you do? Um...
Well, the things of country music
are much the same in other music.
There's love, and love is the main
theme of all music, of course.
Um...
There's much more sadness
in country music.
Um, I don't know what the real
reason is, maybe because, er
I don't know, because of the fact
that it is from the grassroots
and of the simple way of life.
MAN: Look up there.
There's some good-looking apples.
The best apples are still up
in the tree, way up in the top.
But I couldn't shake them down
without that.
CHILD: I... I don't want...
LEAVES RUSTLE.
Too many apples.
Johnny, that will kick you,
you better watch it.
Daddy, did you...? Watch it, she
will kick if you hit her back there.
Rosanne, watch it!
Watch it, Rosanne.
Walk behind her, honey,
she might kick.
I'm sorry, he was just fixing
to hit her back there,
and that would have been
all it would have taken!
There.
MAN LAUGHS: You go in behind!
Get over here, girl!
LAUGHTER CONTINUES.
Oh, John, please, that's cruelty!
CHILDREN LAUGH.
Go, Jenny!
CHILDREN CHATTER
Come here, come here, come here.
I'm shivering. I am too, I am cold.
I'm cold, I cannot continue.
I wish she would bray.
She brays just like her daddy.
MAN BRAYS.
Like Gordon used to do, you know.
Mm-hm.
The first year that we was at Dyess,
let's see, how old were you?
Oh, four years old. Four years old?
I went the runs at the river one
evening... Now, this is true...
Come on in.
SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY CHILDREN
come on in here.
JOHNNY: Come here!
CHILDREN CHATTER.
Waiting for them to just
come by... You have to!
I really don't have to sing
that song again, do I?
- LAUGHTER
- Yeah, I forgot that song...
On Monday, we have bread and gravy
On Tuesday, it's gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday
it's gravy and toast
But that's only
gravy and bread...
LAUGHTER
On Friday, we said to the landlord
Landlord?
Oh, please give us something instead
So on Saturday morning
by way of a change
We had gravy
without any bread...
LAUGHTER.
Good for you!
JOHNNY APPLAUDS: Yey!
OK, girls, sing.
Daddy, you want to sing us a song?
Johnny, I ain't no singer.
There's one thing...
You would sing it in the bathtub.
And his name was Slicker?
What was that song? No.
Sing all them World War I songs.
No, I don't think I could do it.
About where you walked up to the fire
alarm box and it was in New York.
Sing that one. Oh, that...
Let me hear it.
Grab that propeller?
I'd writ some letters on the train
that I wanted to mail back home
And I'd tell 'em about the things
I'd seen and just how far I'd come
I'd seen a box all painted red
and I dropped the letters in
Fire engines came from all around
and the bells began to ring...
WOMAN LAUGHS
And oh, my, what they did to me
Squirted water all over me!
I grabbed up a man and I said to him
Haul me out, I don't want to drown
He said, you're just a darned old
root from a high grass town...
I don't remember all of it, sorry.
I ain't going to sing no more.
LAUGHTER.
Tom Ford used to sing that.
He learned that to me
when I was a little boy.
I was a little boy,
about four years old,
when the Mississippi River
broke the levee.
Floodwaters come over
the cotton land,
come up to the doorstep
at the front of the house.
One morning, I was laying in the bed
and I heard my mama hollering
to my daddy, she said...
How high's the water, Daddy?
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Two feet high and risin'
We can make it to the road
in a home-made boat
That's the only thing
we got left that'll float
It's already over
all the wheat and the oats
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
three feet high and risin'
Well, my hives are gone
I lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin'
in the willow trees
Cow's in water up past her knees
Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
four feet high and risin'
Hey, come look through
the window pane
The bus is comin'
Gonna take us to the train
Looks like we'll be blessed
with a little more rain
Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Five feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
five feet high and risin'
The rails are washed out
north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can't come back
till the water goes down
Five feet high and risin'
Five feet high and risin'.
APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
You were wonderful!
Thank you, nice to be with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, how you doing?
OK?
CAMERA CLICKS.
Thank you. Thank you.
SOFT CHATTER.
Thank you. Thank you, girls.
WOMAN SPEAKS SOFTLY.
Thank you, how sweet.
When I thinks about the best
we could say about Johnny...
Why, that's very nice.
..I even got a tune to it.
Let's hear it. Let's hear it.
Under lightning, rain or sleet
Johnny Cash just can't be beat
This ain't no lyin'
It ain't no bluff
When Johnny sings
He does his stuff...
LAUGHTER.
APPLAUSE.
Aw, that's cute! That's very nice.
She wants you to play something
first. What? Great Speckled Bird.
I mean, that's asking a favour...
They will want me out of here.
Just... All right, open the door.
GUITAR PLAYING BEGINS.
Come in, honey, come in.
That's part of it.
We got your records...
What a beautiful thought
I am thinking
Concerning the great speckled bird
And to know
that my name is recorded
On the pages of God's holy word
Desiring...
To lower her standards
I watch every move that she makes
They long to find fault
with her teaching
But really she makes no mistakes
And when he cometh
descending from heaven
On a cloud
like he wrote in his word
I'll be joyfully carried
to meet him
On the wings
of the great speckled bird.
What do you think that means?
The great speckled bird is,
er, a symbol of the Church.
That's what it means.
You were talking about songs
being a part of me.
Now, we've bought some property
up near Smithville.
It's woods and there's a trout
stream running to the cliffs
and we were up there not long ago,
June, the girls and I,
and I sat down on a rock
and started writing a thing that
I don't know if it would be...
It might possibly be recorded
commercially, I don't know,
it's called, um...
Well, what, it's called, er...
What I Need Is You.
All I Need Is You, I believe, yeah.
You're All I Need.
HE BEGINS PLAYING
Beside a singin' mountain stream
Where the pussy willow grew
Where the silver leaf of maple
Sparkled in the morning dew
I braided twigs of willow
Made a string of buckeye beads
But flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
And you are what I need
Flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
And you are what I need
I leaned against the bark of birch
And I smelled the honey dew
I watched a flock of geese
Against the sky of baby blue
I walked among the lily pads
Carved a whistle from a reed
Mother Nature's quite a lady
But you are what I need
Mother Nature's quite a lady
But you are what I need.
I think that's pretty.
And there's another verse, of course,
I always forget the last verse.
SHE LAUGHS.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF
John always writes these songs down.
A mockingbird sang in the trees
And I thanked him for the song
Then the sun
went slowly to the west
And I had to move along
I walked... I walked through
I walked beside the wild oats
Where the roebuck...
Where the deer and the roebuck feed
But flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
And you are what I need
Flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
And you are what I need.
That's another little thing
I wrote just
in one of my alone moods.
I didn't mind the hard work
on the farm all that much.
It's something
that we had to do and so,
we accepted it that hard work
was part of our life.
I'm sure that, if you've ever
lived on a cotton patch
or any part of the country
where times are hard,
that you appreciate the good things
when they do come much more.
John and I talked many times
about the old saying
and that line that says,
"Steel is strong because it knew
the hammer and white heat."
HE LAUGHS
I'm, er, I've learned, um,
to adapt very well to prosperity,
I like it.
From the home
of the world-renowned Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee,
the Kraft Music Hall presents...
The Second Annual
Country Music Awards!
APPLAUSE, FANFARE PLAYS.
With guest stars
Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins,
Pat Boone, Bobby Goldsboro,
Roger Miller, Jeannie C Riley,
Tex Ritter, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash!
The next award is for the
Country Music Album Of The Year.
The albums nominated are...
Best Of Merle Haggard.
Performer - Merle Haggard.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Performer - Tammy Wynette.
Gentle On My Mind.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
And Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
Performer - Johnny Cash.
The winner is...
The Album Of The Year -
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
CHEERING, FANFARE PLAYS.
Thank you.
I would like to say, first of all,
thanks to the people
that helped support me
to make this possible, to.
Luther Perkins especially.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE.
Mr Davies, how are you doing?
Hello there. How are you doing?
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing? What's your name?
Don Freed. Nice to meet you, Don.
Nice to meet you too.
Are you the fella that came down from
Canada? That's right. Saskatoon.
..Going merrily downhill, sort of.
He had such high ideals,
I kind of hated to stand by
and watch him.
Come away from the roadside
Your feat, it is done
The battle is over
You have both lost and won
For the drums, they're but an echo
Your trumpet players die
Come away, come away
And know how hard you tried
The king, he holds the aces
He has not held your hand
The queen, with her embraces
You did not understand
And the seeds that have fallen
Along the weary hobo's trail
And just as they have fallen
Don't let yourself be felled...
HE PLAYS HARMONICA.
Good. Very good writing. Would you
like to hear another? Mm-hm.
All right. I'll sit down. Sure.
That's a beautiful tune.
A very pretty tune.
I'd like to get you an audition
with Columbia Records.
I don't want you to do it
just as a favour.
If you don't think I'm good
enough... I wouldn't do it
just as a favour. If I didn't think
you were good enough,
I wouldn't do it at all.
But I think you've got it,
so I'll be happy to try
to set you up an audition.
I want to hear another.
I'll see if I can find that guy.
HE LAUGHS
Look a-yonder comin'
Comin' down that railroad track
Hey, look a-yonder comin'
Comin' down that railroad track
It's that Orange Blossom Special
Bringin' my baby back...
HE CHUCKLES
Well, I'm going down to Florida
And get some sand in my shoes
Or maybe Californy
And get some sand in my shoes
I'll ride that
Orange Blossom Special
And lose these New York blues...
CROWD CHEERS.
"Say, man,
when you going back to Florida?"
"I don't know, I don't reckon
I'll ever go back to Florida."
"Ain't you worried about getting
your nourishment in New York?"
"Well, I don't care
if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do."
..Hey, talk about a-ramblin'
She's the fastest train on the line
Talk about a-travellin'
She's the fastest train on the line
It's that Orange Blossom Special
Rollin' down the seaboard line...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
COUGHING.
You want me to get in closer on it?
You want me to get in closer?
Down the street
the dogs are barking
And the day is getting dark
As the night begins to fall
Then the dogs will lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
And I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
From the crossroads of my doorstep
My eyes, they begin to fade
And I turn my head back
to the room
Where my love and I have laid
And I gaze back to the street
The sidewalk and the sign
And I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Yea-eah
Well, it's a restless, hungry
feeling
It don't do nobody no good
And everything I'm saying
You can say it just as good
Cos you're right from your side
That I'm right from mine
I know it
We're just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Dead right
Down the street
the dogs are barking
And the day is getting dark
As the night comes in a-falling
The dogs will lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
Dead right
BOTH: As I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand
And a thousand And a thousand
Another thousand
Miles and miles
Yeah, a thousand miles
A thousand miles behind
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind...
I've got very little
Indian blood in me, myself,
except in my heart.
I've got 100% for you tonight.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Gather round me, people
There's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian
That we should remember well
From the tribe of the Pima Indian
A proud and peaceful band
Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
in Arizona land
Down the ditches
for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's people's crops
Till the white man stole
the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
But when war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled
up Iwo Jima's hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty seven lived
to fight back down again
And when that fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched
and honoured
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared
what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance?
And then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
There they'd let him
raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water
in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
WHISTLING.
Thank you.
Ooh, ooh-ooh
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Tremble, tremble, tremble
Tremble
Were you there
when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
Ooh...
Ooh-ooh
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Tremble, tremble, tremble
Tremble
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
APPLAUSE.
They call it sharecropping.
And these are sharecropper houses,
bungalows, here.
Most of them are what they call
"shotgun shacks".
There's three rooms in a row.
A front room, a middle room
and a back room.
Each one of these houses
had a barn,
a chicken house,
a smokehouse, where the farmers...
They raised their own hogs
and cured their meat.
And they had a mule
and 20 acres of land here.
The next house, just up the road,
the line, the property line,
was halfway between the two houses.
They all had 20 acres of land
to begin with in 1935.
And this is one of those...
You called it a canal,
it's a drainage ditch.
This is ditch 40. Oh, wow.
Are these the banks...?
These are some of the banks that...
that my daddy and all of them
were cleaning off when I was
a water boy on the river gang.
I'd just soon wait over there.
The bus is heavy.
The only original building
in the circle
is the administration building.
There's the Dyess Theater where
I saw all the Tex Ritter movies,
Sunset Carson, Gene Autry movies.
There was a bank, a theatre,
there was a big co-op store
over there.
There was a nice restaurant there.
It was a beautiful little place.
Was it...?
The library's on down here,
isn't it? Mm-hm.
There it is. Frank Huff,
that I was telling you about,
right there he is.
Really? Mm-hm.
There is Frank Huff.
Hello, Mr Huff!
INDISTINCT REPLY
I got to get out to talk to him for a
minute. Just a minute, I'll get out.
Hi. Get out, get out!
I will.
Shall I turn it off, John, or...
You still live out here on the road?
No, I live here.
Oh, you do?
Is Jay still up north?
Yes, he is still up there.
Hi, how are you doing?
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Long time. Sure...
Is it locked? Yeah.
John, is that the same...?
Was that there, back years ago?
No, I don't think...
These concrete blocks were.
Sure looks smaller, doesn't it?
Yes, it's just amazing
how small all the rooms look.
Here's something
that broke me up, Louise.
On the floor there,
the holes where Mama's stove
wore holes in the floor.
We moved in this house
in the winter of 1935.
There were five cans of paint
sitting there on the floor.
It's all there was, remember?
Every one of us sat down in
the middle of the floor and cried.
First new house we'd ever owned.
This is where I'd sit
and listen to the radio.
I thought of that very thing.
Remember at night, Daddy'd say,
"Turn it down, John!"
He'd sit there with his ear
glued to that radio...
Did he think
if he turned it down...?
Yeah.
My bills are all due
and the babies need shoes
But I'm busted
Cotton's gone down
to a quarter a pound
And I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry
And a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills
That get bigger each day
The county will haul
my belongings away
I'm busted
I called on my brother
to ask for a loan
I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog for a bone
But I'm busted
My brother said
there ain't a thing I can do
My wife and my kids
are all down with the flu
And I was just thinking
of calling on you
I'm busted.
I walked in the big yard
to feel the warm sunshine
A ninety-nine-year man
stepped over to me
He offered a smoke
and he said as I rolled it
Tomorrow I'm going to break out
and go free
They watch us by sunlight
They watch us by spotlight
But I know a way
for a man to go free
Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
The walls of a prison
will never hold me
Next morning at breakfast
the old man was missing
Then we all heard the rifles
high up on the wall
He'd gone through the tunnel
just like he had promised
And they said he was crying
when they saw him fall
They watch us by sunlight
They watch us by spotlight
But I know a way
for a man to go free
Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
The walls of a prison
will never hold me...
INDISTINCT CHATTER.
I was hoping it'd be bad.
You know,
it's not like Folsom Prison,
but it gives you the same feeling,
doesn't it?
A prison's a prison.
That's all it is.
Go around,
back through the passageway.
All right.
Thank you very much.
You're very kind
and we've enjoyed singing for you
this afternoon,
but we would like to continue
with the Johnny Cash Show
and bring to you the man
that you've actually come to see.
I'm sure you'll enjoy him
this afternoon.
He seems to have
a lot of things in common with you.
Mr Johnny Cash!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, I taught the weeping willow
how to cry
And I showed the clouds
how to cover up a clear-blue sky
And the tears I cried
for that woman
Are gonna flood you, big river
And I'm gonna sit right here
until I die
Then you took me to St Louis
Later on down the river
A freighter said she's been here
but she's gone, boy, she's gone
I found her trail in Memphis
but she just walked up the bluff
She raised a few eyebrows
and went on down alone
Now, won't you batter down
by Baton Rouge, River Queen
Roll it on
Take that woman on down
to New Orleans, New Orleans
Go on, I've had enough
Dump my blues down in the gulf
She loves you, Big River
More than me.
Yeah!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
You guys must say something nice
for the camera, now,
don't say "Shit"
or anything like that.
Can't put that on TV.
The fellas here on the bass
and the drums have been with me
for about 13 years.
This is Marshall Grant
and WS Holland.
Let's give them a big hand.
APPLAUSE.
The young man on the guitar
has been with us just a short while,
since the death of our guitar player
Luther Perkins,
for about four or five months.
He's joined the group
and doing a great job
from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bob Wootton.
WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE.
Well, we did a show at Folsom Prison
in California.
And, er... there's some pretty
mean-looking characters out there
compared to some of you fellas.
One guy I know is in for life
for stealing eggs.
LAUGHTER.
Here's some of the songs
we did out at Folsom,
and... we've done
at almost all of our shows.
Ten years ago
on a cold, dark night
Someone was killed
'neath the town hall lights
There were few at the scene
but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran
looked a lot like me
The scaffold is high
and eternity is near
She stood in the crowd
and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night
when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil
she cries o'er my bones
She walks these hills
in a long black veil
She visits my grave
when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Hi!
We got married in a fever
Hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
Ever since the fire went out
I'm goin' to Jackson
I'm gonna mess around
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
Look out, Jackson town...
Look out!
Well, go on down to Jackson
Go ahead and wreck your health
Go play your hand
you big-talkin' man
Make a big fool of yourself
You're goin' to Jackson
You big-talkin' man
And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
Behind my Jay pen fan
Well, when I breeze into that city
The people gonna stoop and bow...
Ha!
All them women gonna make me
teach 'em what they don't know how
I'm goin' to Jackson
You turn-a loose my coat
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
"Goodbye", that's all she wrote
Well, they'll laugh at you
in Jackson
And I'll be dancin' on a Pony Keg
They'll lead you round town
like a scalded hound
With your tail tucked
between your legs
You'll go to Jackson
You big-talkin' man
And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
Behind my Jay pen fan
Well
We got married in a fever
Hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
Ever since the fire went out
I'm goin' to Jackson
And that's a fact
Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson
Ain't never coming back
Well, we got married in a fever
Ooh...
Hotter than a pepper sprout
Ooh...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Join your friends while you got 'em
Cos you know
they're gettin' fewer every day
You can't wait to let them
take you to the bottom
And I'm gettin' tired
of standin' in your way
But when you hit the ground
don't come looking around
For the pieces of the love
you threw away
That's the price of the high life
you're livin'
And you still got the devil to pay
You've been flying so high
you don't know that you're blind
To the writin' on the wall
But some day you'll look down
And you'll find
you've got no place to fall
When your bright lights are gone
You'll be standing alone
Forsaken in the naked light of day
And then you'll know
that it's all over but the dying
And you've still got
the devil to pay.
APPLAUSE.
MUSIC: Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash
Love is a burning thing
And it makes a fiery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire.
HE MIMICS BIRD CALL.
GUNSHOT.
HE LAUGHS.
You want to get me,
don't you? You son of a gun!
Only place I can tell
he is hurt is... He's got one little
wing bone broken. It's not hurt.
It's not every day you catch a crow.
CROW SQUAWKS.
You son of a gun, you!
I already like you, for some reason.
I'll take you home and see if you
are hurt bad, OK?
HE HUMS TO HIMSELF
If I had wings
like a grey goose got
I'd leave you
whether my heart break or not
I'd leave you
Woman, I'd leave you
I can't make my feet walk...
HE HUMS
But if I could fly like Mr Crow
Woman, I know I'd go.
Ah!
One, two, three, four...
MUSIC STARTS.
I would leave them
completely off the intro.
And I would wait
until I am into the song, you know?
Have you got a little pencil?
I would keep that flat top guitar
way up on the intro
because that is powerful.
The way... with the drum slap.
Don't you think, Bob? Yes.
I just...
Because when they come in,
I can hear it, it's kind of a
pleasant surprise, you know? Yes.
I filled it up so you can have what
you wanted to choose from.
OK, cut all intro.
As we go along, Johnny, tell me
where you want them in or out
and I'll write it down, OK?
One, two, three...
MUSIC: Land Of Israel
by Johnny Cash
From the top of Sinai
To the Sea of Galilee...
CREW CHATTERS
Every hill and plain is home
Every place is dear to me
There the breezes tell the stories
Oh, what stories they do tell
Of the mighty things that happened
In the land of Israel
Here, where Moses and the prophets
Spoke of one who would be king
Of a heavenly messiah
And the blessings he would bring
Oh, to hear again the call
All is peaceful, all is well
Upon every rock and mountain
In the land of Israel.
Where my daddy was born. Yeah.
Kings land, that's where I was born.
Oh, great.
Well, do we go right past
on this...? No, we turn.
We turned south here,
on 81, to Monticello.
We're not very far off,
then, are we now? No.
We're almost there.
When you come from
either side of that river,
and that's part of the country,
you learn to understand most
everything, you have to,
cos it's a grind from the time
you get up till you lay down.
And there ain't nothing
given to you. You sweat.
Somebody in the family sweats for
that bread that's on that plate.
Right, John? Yes.
And it's usually the whole family
it takes to make a living,
whether it's cotton... and, er, the
people that's farming the land
is not the one that gets the money.
Somebody owns it
and you get part of it.
MUSIC: Daddy Sang Bass
by Johnny Cash
I remember when I was a lad
Times were hard and things were bad
But there's a silver linin'
behind every cloud
Just poor people
That's all we were
Tryin' to make a livin'
out of black land earth
We'd get together
in a family circle singin' loud
Daddy sang bass
Mama sang tenor
Me and little brother
would join right in there
Cos singin' seems
to help a troubled soul
One of these days
and it won't be long
I'll rejoin them in a song
I'm gonna join the family circle
at the throne
No, the circle won't be broken
By and by, Lord, by and by
Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
Me and little brother
will join right in there
In the sky, Lord, in the sky
I remember after work
Mama would call in all of us
You could hear us singin'
for a country mile
Now little brother has done gone on
But I'll rejoin him in a song
We'll be together again up yonder
in a little while
Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
Me and little brother
would join right in there
Cos singin' seems to help
a troubled soul
One of these days
and it won't be long...
CHEERING.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
BAND BEGINS, HUGE CHEER
I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine
since I don't know when
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison
And time keeps draggin' on
But that train keeps a-rollin'
on down to San Antone
When I was just a baby
my mama told me, son
Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with guns
But I shot a man in Reno
just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing
I hang my head and cry...
Hey, come on!
GUITAR SOLO, CHEERING.
Ye-e-eah!
I bet there's rich folks
eating in a fancy dining car
They're probably drinking coffee
and smoking big cigars
Well, I know I had it coming
I know I can't be free
But those people keep a-moving
And that's what tortures me...
Go for it! Yeah.
GUITAR SOLO.
CHEERING
Well, if they freed me
from this prison
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move it on
a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom Prison
That's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle
blow my blues away.
MUSIC STOPS.
Do you think it's a main theme going
through country and western music?
A main message or a type of thing
you're trying to appeal to
in the country and western songs
that you do? Um...
Well, the things of country music
are much the same in other music.
There's love, and love is the main
theme of all music, of course.
Um...
There's much more sadness
in country music.
Um, I don't know what the real
reason is, maybe because, er
I don't know, because of the fact
that it is from the grassroots
and of the simple way of life.
MAN: Look up there.
There's some good-looking apples.
The best apples are still up
in the tree, way up in the top.
But I couldn't shake them down
without that.
CHILD: I... I don't want...
LEAVES RUSTLE.
Too many apples.
Johnny, that will kick you,
you better watch it.
Daddy, did you...? Watch it, she
will kick if you hit her back there.
Rosanne, watch it!
Watch it, Rosanne.
Walk behind her, honey,
she might kick.
I'm sorry, he was just fixing
to hit her back there,
and that would have been
all it would have taken!
There.
MAN LAUGHS: You go in behind!
Get over here, girl!
LAUGHTER CONTINUES.
Oh, John, please, that's cruelty!
CHILDREN LAUGH.
Go, Jenny!
CHILDREN CHATTER
Come here, come here, come here.
I'm shivering. I am too, I am cold.
I'm cold, I cannot continue.
I wish she would bray.
She brays just like her daddy.
MAN BRAYS.
Like Gordon used to do, you know.
Mm-hm.
The first year that we was at Dyess,
let's see, how old were you?
Oh, four years old. Four years old?
I went the runs at the river one
evening... Now, this is true...
Come on in.
SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY CHILDREN
come on in here.
JOHNNY: Come here!
CHILDREN CHATTER.
Waiting for them to just
come by... You have to!
I really don't have to sing
that song again, do I?
- LAUGHTER
- Yeah, I forgot that song...
On Monday, we have bread and gravy
On Tuesday, it's gravy and bread
On Wednesday and Thursday
it's gravy and toast
But that's only
gravy and bread...
LAUGHTER
On Friday, we said to the landlord
Landlord?
Oh, please give us something instead
So on Saturday morning
by way of a change
We had gravy
without any bread...
LAUGHTER.
Good for you!
JOHNNY APPLAUDS: Yey!
OK, girls, sing.
Daddy, you want to sing us a song?
Johnny, I ain't no singer.
There's one thing...
You would sing it in the bathtub.
And his name was Slicker?
What was that song? No.
Sing all them World War I songs.
No, I don't think I could do it.
About where you walked up to the fire
alarm box and it was in New York.
Sing that one. Oh, that...
Let me hear it.
Grab that propeller?
I'd writ some letters on the train
that I wanted to mail back home
And I'd tell 'em about the things
I'd seen and just how far I'd come
I'd seen a box all painted red
and I dropped the letters in
Fire engines came from all around
and the bells began to ring...
WOMAN LAUGHS
And oh, my, what they did to me
Squirted water all over me!
I grabbed up a man and I said to him
Haul me out, I don't want to drown
He said, you're just a darned old
root from a high grass town...
I don't remember all of it, sorry.
I ain't going to sing no more.
LAUGHTER.
Tom Ford used to sing that.
He learned that to me
when I was a little boy.
I was a little boy,
about four years old,
when the Mississippi River
broke the levee.
Floodwaters come over
the cotton land,
come up to the doorstep
at the front of the house.
One morning, I was laying in the bed
and I heard my mama hollering
to my daddy, she said...
How high's the water, Daddy?
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Two feet high and risin'
We can make it to the road
in a home-made boat
That's the only thing
we got left that'll float
It's already over
all the wheat and the oats
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
three feet high and risin'
Well, my hives are gone
I lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin'
in the willow trees
Cow's in water up past her knees
Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
four feet high and risin'
Hey, come look through
the window pane
The bus is comin'
Gonna take us to the train
Looks like we'll be blessed
with a little more rain
Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Mama?
Five feet high and risin'
How high's the water, Papa?
She said it's
five feet high and risin'
The rails are washed out
north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can't come back
till the water goes down
Five feet high and risin'
Five feet high and risin'.
APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
You were wonderful!
Thank you, nice to be with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, how you doing?
OK?
CAMERA CLICKS.
Thank you. Thank you.
SOFT CHATTER.
Thank you. Thank you, girls.
WOMAN SPEAKS SOFTLY.
Thank you, how sweet.
When I thinks about the best
we could say about Johnny...
Why, that's very nice.
..I even got a tune to it.
Let's hear it. Let's hear it.
Under lightning, rain or sleet
Johnny Cash just can't be beat
This ain't no lyin'
It ain't no bluff
When Johnny sings
He does his stuff...
LAUGHTER.
APPLAUSE.
Aw, that's cute! That's very nice.
She wants you to play something
first. What? Great Speckled Bird.
I mean, that's asking a favour...
They will want me out of here.
Just... All right, open the door.
GUITAR PLAYING BEGINS.
Come in, honey, come in.
That's part of it.
We got your records...
What a beautiful thought
I am thinking
Concerning the great speckled bird
And to know
that my name is recorded
On the pages of God's holy word
Desiring...
To lower her standards
I watch every move that she makes
They long to find fault
with her teaching
But really she makes no mistakes
And when he cometh
descending from heaven
On a cloud
like he wrote in his word
I'll be joyfully carried
to meet him
On the wings
of the great speckled bird.
What do you think that means?
The great speckled bird is,
er, a symbol of the Church.
That's what it means.
You were talking about songs
being a part of me.
Now, we've bought some property
up near Smithville.
It's woods and there's a trout
stream running to the cliffs
and we were up there not long ago,
June, the girls and I,
and I sat down on a rock
and started writing a thing that
I don't know if it would be...
It might possibly be recorded
commercially, I don't know,
it's called, um...
Well, what, it's called, er...
What I Need Is You.
All I Need Is You, I believe, yeah.
You're All I Need.
HE BEGINS PLAYING
Beside a singin' mountain stream
Where the pussy willow grew
Where the silver leaf of maple
Sparkled in the morning dew
I braided twigs of willow
Made a string of buckeye beads
But flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
And you are what I need
Flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
And you are what I need
I leaned against the bark of birch
And I smelled the honey dew
I watched a flock of geese
Against the sky of baby blue
I walked among the lily pads
Carved a whistle from a reed
Mother Nature's quite a lady
But you are what I need
Mother Nature's quite a lady
But you are what I need.
I think that's pretty.
And there's another verse, of course,
I always forget the last verse.
SHE LAUGHS.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF
John always writes these songs down.
A mockingbird sang in the trees
And I thanked him for the song
Then the sun
went slowly to the west
And I had to move along
I walked... I walked through
I walked beside the wild oats
Where the roebuck...
Where the deer and the roebuck feed
But flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
And you are what I need
Flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
And you are what I need.
That's another little thing
I wrote just
in one of my alone moods.
I didn't mind the hard work
on the farm all that much.
It's something
that we had to do and so,
we accepted it that hard work
was part of our life.
I'm sure that, if you've ever
lived on a cotton patch
or any part of the country
where times are hard,
that you appreciate the good things
when they do come much more.
John and I talked many times
about the old saying
and that line that says,
"Steel is strong because it knew
the hammer and white heat."
HE LAUGHS
I'm, er, I've learned, um,
to adapt very well to prosperity,
I like it.
From the home
of the world-renowned Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee,
the Kraft Music Hall presents...
The Second Annual
Country Music Awards!
APPLAUSE, FANFARE PLAYS.
With guest stars
Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins,
Pat Boone, Bobby Goldsboro,
Roger Miller, Jeannie C Riley,
Tex Ritter, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash!
The next award is for the
Country Music Album Of The Year.
The albums nominated are...
Best Of Merle Haggard.
Performer - Merle Haggard.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Performer - Tammy Wynette.
Gentle On My Mind.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
And Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
Performer - Johnny Cash.
The winner is...
The Album Of The Year -
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
CHEERING, FANFARE PLAYS.
Thank you.
I would like to say, first of all,
thanks to the people
that helped support me
to make this possible, to.
Luther Perkins especially.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE.
Mr Davies, how are you doing?
Hello there. How are you doing?
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing? What's your name?
Don Freed. Nice to meet you, Don.
Nice to meet you too.
Are you the fella that came down from
Canada? That's right. Saskatoon.
..Going merrily downhill, sort of.
He had such high ideals,
I kind of hated to stand by
and watch him.
Come away from the roadside
Your feat, it is done
The battle is over
You have both lost and won
For the drums, they're but an echo
Your trumpet players die
Come away, come away
And know how hard you tried
The king, he holds the aces
He has not held your hand
The queen, with her embraces
You did not understand
And the seeds that have fallen
Along the weary hobo's trail
And just as they have fallen
Don't let yourself be felled...
HE PLAYS HARMONICA.
Good. Very good writing. Would you
like to hear another? Mm-hm.
All right. I'll sit down. Sure.
That's a beautiful tune.
A very pretty tune.
I'd like to get you an audition
with Columbia Records.
I don't want you to do it
just as a favour.
If you don't think I'm good
enough... I wouldn't do it
just as a favour. If I didn't think
you were good enough,
I wouldn't do it at all.
But I think you've got it,
so I'll be happy to try
to set you up an audition.
I want to hear another.
I'll see if I can find that guy.
HE LAUGHS
Look a-yonder comin'
Comin' down that railroad track
Hey, look a-yonder comin'
Comin' down that railroad track
It's that Orange Blossom Special
Bringin' my baby back...
HE CHUCKLES
Well, I'm going down to Florida
And get some sand in my shoes
Or maybe Californy
And get some sand in my shoes
I'll ride that
Orange Blossom Special
And lose these New York blues...
CROWD CHEERS.
"Say, man,
when you going back to Florida?"
"I don't know, I don't reckon
I'll ever go back to Florida."
"Ain't you worried about getting
your nourishment in New York?"
"Well, I don't care
if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do."
..Hey, talk about a-ramblin'
She's the fastest train on the line
Talk about a-travellin'
She's the fastest train on the line
It's that Orange Blossom Special
Rollin' down the seaboard line...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
COUGHING.
You want me to get in closer on it?
You want me to get in closer?
Down the street
the dogs are barking
And the day is getting dark
As the night begins to fall
Then the dogs will lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
And I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
From the crossroads of my doorstep
My eyes, they begin to fade
And I turn my head back
to the room
Where my love and I have laid
And I gaze back to the street
The sidewalk and the sign
And I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Yea-eah
Well, it's a restless, hungry
feeling
It don't do nobody no good
And everything I'm saying
You can say it just as good
Cos you're right from your side
That I'm right from mine
I know it
We're just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Dead right
Down the street
the dogs are barking
And the day is getting dark
As the night comes in a-falling
The dogs will lose their bark
And the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind
Dead right
BOTH: As I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
Just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand
And a thousand And a thousand
Another thousand
Miles and miles
Yeah, a thousand miles
A thousand miles behind
And a thousand miles behind
I'm just one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind...
I've got very little
Indian blood in me, myself,
except in my heart.
I've got 100% for you tonight.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Gather round me, people
There's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian
That we should remember well
From the tribe of the Pima Indian
A proud and peaceful band
Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
in Arizona land
Down the ditches
for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's people's crops
Till the white man stole
the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
But when war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled
up Iwo Jima's hill
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty seven lived
to fight back down again
And when that fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira Hayes returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched
and honoured
Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared
what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance?
And then Ira started drinking hard
Jail was often his home
There they'd let him
raise the flag and lower it
Like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water
in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer any more
Not the whisky-drinking Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
WHISTLING.
Thank you.
Ooh, ooh-ooh
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Tremble, tremble, tremble
Tremble
Were you there
when they laid him in the tomb?
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
Ooh...
Ooh-ooh
Sometimes it causes me to tremble
Tremble, tremble, tremble
Tremble
Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
APPLAUSE.
They call it sharecropping.
And these are sharecropper houses,
bungalows, here.
Most of them are what they call
"shotgun shacks".
There's three rooms in a row.
A front room, a middle room
and a back room.
Each one of these houses
had a barn,
a chicken house,
a smokehouse, where the farmers...
They raised their own hogs
and cured their meat.
And they had a mule
and 20 acres of land here.
The next house, just up the road,
the line, the property line,
was halfway between the two houses.
They all had 20 acres of land
to begin with in 1935.
And this is one of those...
You called it a canal,
it's a drainage ditch.
This is ditch 40. Oh, wow.
Are these the banks...?
These are some of the banks that...
that my daddy and all of them
were cleaning off when I was
a water boy on the river gang.
I'd just soon wait over there.
The bus is heavy.
The only original building
in the circle
is the administration building.
There's the Dyess Theater where
I saw all the Tex Ritter movies,
Sunset Carson, Gene Autry movies.
There was a bank, a theatre,
there was a big co-op store
over there.
There was a nice restaurant there.
It was a beautiful little place.
Was it...?
The library's on down here,
isn't it? Mm-hm.
There it is. Frank Huff,
that I was telling you about,
right there he is.
Really? Mm-hm.
There is Frank Huff.
Hello, Mr Huff!
INDISTINCT REPLY
I got to get out to talk to him for a
minute. Just a minute, I'll get out.
Hi. Get out, get out!
I will.
Shall I turn it off, John, or...
You still live out here on the road?
No, I live here.
Oh, you do?
Is Jay still up north?
Yes, he is still up there.
Hi, how are you doing?
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Long time. Sure...
Is it locked? Yeah.
John, is that the same...?
Was that there, back years ago?
No, I don't think...
These concrete blocks were.
Sure looks smaller, doesn't it?
Yes, it's just amazing
how small all the rooms look.
Here's something
that broke me up, Louise.
On the floor there,
the holes where Mama's stove
wore holes in the floor.
We moved in this house
in the winter of 1935.
There were five cans of paint
sitting there on the floor.
It's all there was, remember?
Every one of us sat down in
the middle of the floor and cried.
First new house we'd ever owned.
This is where I'd sit
and listen to the radio.
I thought of that very thing.
Remember at night, Daddy'd say,
"Turn it down, John!"
He'd sit there with his ear
glued to that radio...
Did he think
if he turned it down...?
Yeah.
My bills are all due
and the babies need shoes
But I'm busted
Cotton's gone down
to a quarter a pound
And I'm busted
I got a cow that went dry
And a hen that won't lay
A big stack of bills
That get bigger each day
The county will haul
my belongings away
I'm busted
I called on my brother
to ask for a loan
I was busted
I hate to beg like a dog for a bone
But I'm busted
My brother said
there ain't a thing I can do
My wife and my kids
are all down with the flu
And I was just thinking
of calling on you
I'm busted.
I walked in the big yard
to feel the warm sunshine
A ninety-nine-year man
stepped over to me
He offered a smoke
and he said as I rolled it
Tomorrow I'm going to break out
and go free
They watch us by sunlight
They watch us by spotlight
But I know a way
for a man to go free
Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
The walls of a prison
will never hold me
Next morning at breakfast
the old man was missing
Then we all heard the rifles
high up on the wall
He'd gone through the tunnel
just like he had promised
And they said he was crying
when they saw him fall
They watch us by sunlight
They watch us by spotlight
But I know a way
for a man to go free
Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
The walls of a prison
will never hold me...
INDISTINCT CHATTER.
I was hoping it'd be bad.
You know,
it's not like Folsom Prison,
but it gives you the same feeling,
doesn't it?
A prison's a prison.
That's all it is.
Go around,
back through the passageway.
All right.
Thank you very much.
You're very kind
and we've enjoyed singing for you
this afternoon,
but we would like to continue
with the Johnny Cash Show
and bring to you the man
that you've actually come to see.
I'm sure you'll enjoy him
this afternoon.
He seems to have
a lot of things in common with you.
Mr Johnny Cash!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, I taught the weeping willow
how to cry
And I showed the clouds
how to cover up a clear-blue sky
And the tears I cried
for that woman
Are gonna flood you, big river
And I'm gonna sit right here
until I die
Then you took me to St Louis
Later on down the river
A freighter said she's been here
but she's gone, boy, she's gone
I found her trail in Memphis
but she just walked up the bluff
She raised a few eyebrows
and went on down alone
Now, won't you batter down
by Baton Rouge, River Queen
Roll it on
Take that woman on down
to New Orleans, New Orleans
Go on, I've had enough
Dump my blues down in the gulf
She loves you, Big River
More than me.
Yeah!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
You guys must say something nice
for the camera, now,
don't say "Shit"
or anything like that.
Can't put that on TV.
The fellas here on the bass
and the drums have been with me
for about 13 years.
This is Marshall Grant
and WS Holland.
Let's give them a big hand.
APPLAUSE.
The young man on the guitar
has been with us just a short while,
since the death of our guitar player
Luther Perkins,
for about four or five months.
He's joined the group
and doing a great job
from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bob Wootton.
WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE.
Well, we did a show at Folsom Prison
in California.
And, er... there's some pretty
mean-looking characters out there
compared to some of you fellas.
One guy I know is in for life
for stealing eggs.
LAUGHTER.
Here's some of the songs
we did out at Folsom,
and... we've done
at almost all of our shows.
Ten years ago
on a cold, dark night
Someone was killed
'neath the town hall lights
There were few at the scene
but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran
looked a lot like me
The scaffold is high
and eternity is near
She stood in the crowd
and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night
when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil
she cries o'er my bones
She walks these hills
in a long black veil
She visits my grave
when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Hi!
We got married in a fever
Hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
Ever since the fire went out
I'm goin' to Jackson
I'm gonna mess around
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
Look out, Jackson town...
Look out!
Well, go on down to Jackson
Go ahead and wreck your health
Go play your hand
you big-talkin' man
Make a big fool of yourself
You're goin' to Jackson
You big-talkin' man
And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
Behind my Jay pen fan
Well, when I breeze into that city
The people gonna stoop and bow...
Ha!
All them women gonna make me
teach 'em what they don't know how
I'm goin' to Jackson
You turn-a loose my coat
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
"Goodbye", that's all she wrote
Well, they'll laugh at you
in Jackson
And I'll be dancin' on a Pony Keg
They'll lead you round town
like a scalded hound
With your tail tucked
between your legs
You'll go to Jackson
You big-talkin' man
And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
Behind my Jay pen fan
Well
We got married in a fever
Hotter than a pepper sprout
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
Ever since the fire went out
I'm goin' to Jackson
And that's a fact
Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson
Ain't never coming back
Well, we got married in a fever
Ooh...
Hotter than a pepper sprout
Ooh...
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Join your friends while you got 'em
Cos you know
they're gettin' fewer every day
You can't wait to let them
take you to the bottom
And I'm gettin' tired
of standin' in your way
But when you hit the ground
don't come looking around
For the pieces of the love
you threw away
That's the price of the high life
you're livin'
And you still got the devil to pay
You've been flying so high
you don't know that you're blind
To the writin' on the wall
But some day you'll look down
And you'll find
you've got no place to fall
When your bright lights are gone
You'll be standing alone
Forsaken in the naked light of day
And then you'll know
that it's all over but the dying
And you've still got
the devil to pay.