Words & Music:
Johnny Cash
This is transcribed in the May 2006 issue of Acoustic
Guitar and fully transcribed in Guitar World.
E
I hear the train a-comin', it's rollin' round the bend.
I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.
A
E
I'm stuck in Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin' on.
B7
E
But the 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 blowin' I hang my head and cry.
I bet there's rich folks eatin' in a fancy dinin' car.
They're prob'ly drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars.
But I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free.
But those people keep a-movin' and that's what tortures me.
Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move a little farther on 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.