"Austin Prison" | |
---|---|
Single by Johnny Cash | |
from the album Everybody Loves a Nut | |
A-side | "
Everybody Loves a Nut" "Austin Prison" |
Released | May 1966 |
Genre | country |
Label | Columbia 4-43673 |
Songwriter(s) | Johnny Cash |
Producer(s) | Don Law and Frank Jones [1] |
Audio | |
"Austin Prison" on YouTube |
"Austin Prison" is a song written by Johnny Cash [2] and originally recorded by him on Columbia Records for his 1966 novelty album Everybody Loves a Nut.
It was first released in May 1966 [3] as the flip side to the second single (Columbia 4-43673, " Everybody Loves a Nut" / "Austin Prison") from the yet-to-be-released album. [4] [5] [6] [7]
[The song] tells the story of a prisoner who is helped to escape by his jailer. "Now all I want between me and there are a lot of friendly people," he says, "and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles." Cash wrote the song, and he must have felt a very personal connection with it, given that it was recorded soon after his release from jail in Texas.
— C. Eric Banister. Johnny Cash FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Man in Black [4]
[In the song,] the outlaw narrator is imprisoned for murdering a woman he may not have killed. He's found guilty and sentenced to die, but in a rare happenstance the jailer helps him escape. There certainly is a sense of ambiguity since we don't know for sure if he did or did not kill anyone. But we know that he got away.
— John M. Alexander. The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash [8]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | " Everybody Loves a Nut" | Jack Clement | 2:04 |
2. | "Austin Prison" | Johnny Cash | 2:06 |
This song was followed by "Everybody Loves a Nut," also written by Clement, which has Cash proclaim that the world likes people a little off center and slightly weird.
May
"Everybody Loves A Nut"/"Austin Prison" (Columbia 4-43673) released. This is the second single to be lifted from the forthcoming Everybody Loves A Nut album and it will spend nine weeks on the charts in July and August, reaching a high of #17.
... and started recording a lighthearted album that appeared to be a deliberate diversion from all the morbidity around him. In the first ...
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