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lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 5071
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 2:34 pm:   Edit Post

For many years I've wondered why the singer in "Folsom Prison Blues" was in jail in California when he "shot a man in Reno", which is in Nevada? Today the mystery was solved. I'm reading "Corn Flakes with John Lennon" by Robert Hilburn (former rock critic for the L.A. Times for 35 years). At one point he writes the following passage about Johnny Cash:

"I listened to 'Folsom Prison Blues' for five decades before asking myself, if the guy in the song shot a man in Reno, what's he doing in prison in California? When I asked John about it, he burst out laughing. 'I never did get good grades in geography.'"

So now we know! By the way, I strongly recommend this book.

Bill, tgo
davehouck
Moderator
Username: davehouck

Post Number: 10563
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 5:10 pm:   Edit Post

It does look interesting.
aquaman
Member
Username: aquaman

Post Number: 81
Registered: 9-2006
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 7:10 am:   Edit Post

Does anyone know what the exchange is between the jailhouse personnel and audience at the end of "Cocaine Blues"?
edwin
Senior Member
Username: edwin

Post Number: 1136
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 12:44 am:   Edit Post

Maybe they were both citizens of California, the guy didn't die and sued him in a California court (which applied the law of Nevada, of course, using vested rights theory). The victim won a judgment but Cash didn't pay up so the CA courts put him in jail for contempt.

Or maybe he shot him in Reno, but the guy died much later in CA and the CA courts thought, for some reason, that that was when the actual crime was committed.

Whaddaya think, counselor?
811952
Senior Member
Username: 811952

Post Number: 2154
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 7:42 am:   Edit Post

If he shot the guy in Reno, perhaps he fled up the pass into California where they got him on firearms charges? *shrugs* ;)

John
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1163
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 8:15 am:   Edit Post

Maybe it's short for Renoville or Reno Junction (both in CA)?

Peter
edwin
Senior Member
Username: edwin

Post Number: 1137
Registered: 5-2002
Posted on Monday, February 20, 2012 - 8:33 am:   Edit Post

Or maybe Reno is a sideways reference to "renvoi", the process by which a court adopts the law of a foreign jurisdiction with respect to any conflict of laws that arise.

That Cash guy is pretty deep!

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