
He never did any hard time, but Cash had a natural sympathy for men who gave in to their worst impulses. At California’s Folsom Prison, songs like “Cocaine Blues” (“When I was arrested I was dressed in black/ They put me on a train and they took me back”) and “25 Minutes to Go” (“With my feet on the trap and my head on the noose/ Got 5 more minutes to go”) lose some of their defiance and gain some sadness, particularly when they’re interrupted by announcements like, “88419 is wanted in reception.” The final track, “Greystone Chapel,” was written by Folsom inmate Glen Sherley. Cash heard it for the first time the night before the show and learned it fast so that the last lyric his audience heard was, “Inside the walls of prison my body may be/ But my Lord has set my soul free.”