Talk:Folsom Prison Blues

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The Keb Mo' comment about social justice is incredibly relative and unsubstantiated. It has no place here, and in fact in interviews Keb Mo has actually stated that he changed the lyrics because he thought them too harsh. Rather than somehow adding a dimension to a song if anything he took a classically rebellious track and sanitized it. Here is the evidence: http://www.rogerwallace.com/kebno.html Keb Mo states "that turns my stomach." So, someone git rid of this speculative nonsense. I'd do it myself but I'm not clear on the editing policies and I don't want to go against the regulations, I know it can be very specific. Also, in a documentary about Johnny Cash there is an interview with someone who talks about having to convince Cash to let him edit out the cheering section during the "Reno" line on the live album. This would seem to go against what you have on this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.138.51.29 (talk) 05:15, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe I'm just deconstructing creative license here, but... If he shot a man in Reno, Nevada, how did he end in Folsom State Prison in California? Wouldn't he either be in a Nevada prison or a Federal prison? --UsaSatsui 19:31, 17 July 2005 (UTC)

Well you are probably right about creative license. Consider these two things - Reno, Nevada is very close to the California state line (see Image:NVMap-doton-Reno.png), so this ficticious murder probably occured near Reno (in California). Also, Cash, in 1953 was an uneducated young man from rural Arkansas who was in the Air Force stationed in West Germany who probably didn't know much about the legal system. —preceding unsigned comment by Rogerd (talk • contribs) 15:52, July 17, 2005
Perhaps after committing the murder in Reno, he fled across the state line and was arrested after a shoot-out with California law officers. Jess Cully (talk) 00:20, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Isn't it also possible that he killed a man in Reno, got away with it, and was imprisoned for another crime? And that he hangs his head and cries because he knows what a bad man he is, that he "can't be free"? Or maybe the syllables just fit the melody. It's said that Simon & Garfunkel originally wanted to say "where have you gone Mickey Mantle?," in "Mrs. Robinson." But "Joe DiMaggio," a sports hero of their fathers' generation, fit the rhyme better. Or so I've heard. [user: Thomconn]

He could have used Lodi, a city in California which scans exactly the same as Reno :D Jess Cully 13:35, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
Who cares? I don't see any reason this trivia it should be in the article. :] --Sam Francis 21:38, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
We are talking about a work of fiction written by a young, relatively uneducated man from a small town in Arkansas in the 1950's. He was probably geographically challenged. --rogerd 23:04, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
Or maybe he was just looking for words that rhymed or flowed well together. Too much is being read into this. This is left-brainers trying to apply logic to right-brained thinking. Trust me: it doesn't work. Wahkeenah 01:28, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
Two of you just lifted ideas without attribution from this page. That's plagiarism. I don't believe "left/right brain" jargon applies to critiquing a few simple lyrics about prison or why this should be above our comprehension. FYI, musical notation is right-brained because of its mathematical component but that applies only to the reading and writing of sheet music. Lyrics and melody fall under the province of the left brain, the artistically creative side. As for this topic being "trivial," I think we can decide that for ourselves. At least we didn't paraphrase the ideas of others as though they were our own. [user: Thomconn]

Contents

[edit] song lyrics copyvio in this article?

Is it a copyright violation to have the entire lyrics of the song printed here? Joyous | Talk 00:44, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

I've read that it's permissable to quote "two bars" of a song or whatever, without permission or violation. A few months ago, I checked out the official U.S. Copyright Office web site (to check on public-domain movies) and the site clearly states that no such rules exist. That is, no law states how many verses or bars or paragraphs can be safely lifted without fear of legal action. The only safe course is to always get permission from the publisher for the specific quote you wish to use. I don't see the "entire lyrics" here, so maybe they've been removed since your post. [user: Thomconn]

[edit] NYT charges plagiarism

Sharon Waxman of the New York Times states that Folsom Prison Blues was plagiarized from a Gordon Jenkins song, "Crescent City Blues".[1] Waxman cites the same Streissguth book that's cited in this article. Anyone know about this? Is it accepted fact, or a disputed allegation? There's nothing about it in Wikipedia. If it's true it seems like a pretty big deal, given how influential the song is. --Allen 07:37, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, this is pretty widely accepted and reported in many sources (Streissguth, Turner, etc.). I added a couple sentences addressing this. David Koller 13:36, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
Just to amplify on your answer, doesn't Streissguth mention that Jenkins (who worked with such greats as Sinatra) knew about the plagiarism for several years--but did not demand reparations until the enormous success of the "Live at Folsom Prison" album? If memory serves, it was a settlement to the "tune" of $100,000. [user: Thomconn]

ITs a song...

[edit] Glitch?

Perhaps it's a glitch in my browser (or rather browsers, since I tried to download the page in IE, Opera and Firefox), but the currently displayed version of the page does not reflect the latest revision. --Ghirla -трёп- 07:36, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] removed lyrics... clear copyright violation

The article contained the complete lyrics. While the use of short quotes for the purpose of critical analysis is allowed, the non-critical wholesale copying of lyrics in the article seems to be a clear violation of copyright. I thus removed the lyrics. --Jayron32|talk|contribs 06:41, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Johnny Cash - Fulsom Prison Blues (Live).ogg

Image:Johnny Cash - Fulsom Prison Blues (Live).ogg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 23:45, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] MP3 Tag

Winamp 5.5's Auto Tag feature insists on identifying versions of this song sung by Johnny Cash as being from the Reverend Horton Heat album "Holly Roller".