Johnny Cash - Starkville City Jail Lyrics

They put this microphone down here near my guitar
Let it all hang out
I thought my guitar was out of tune at first
You sorry son of a
It is out of tune
Is that right?
Terry, is that right?
Will you tune this son of a bitch for me?
Got all kinds of songs, here's one called "a boy named sue"
You want to hear that one?
You want to hear "a boy named sue"?
I do too, I'm anxious to hear it
I don't know how in the hell it's gonna sound, I'm anxious to hear it
Does that block your camera view right there, is that alright?
You want me to leave it there?
Just gonna put it there then
Where in the hell is my guitar? Oh, here it is
(Where's Luther, Johnny?)
We're sorry to say, the Luther passed away seven months ago
After being with us for 13 years, Luther perkins
And uh, the fella that is playing the guitar with us now is doing a wonderful job but
'Course nobody can really replace Luther
How about one big cheer for Luther Perkins

Yeah, I had a song called san quentin, I was going to do
Where's my, hey, in my kit back in there where I've got all my dope
I mean, where I got all my things
There's a, there's a, there's a little red notebook back there
Would somebody, would one of the guards bring it to me
Somebody bring it to me, bring me the red notebook, and I will uh
Hey, that, that briefcase back there of mine, you know
That's got all the songs I stole in it
Telling it like it is, ain't i? Alright

Wrote a song yesterday
I tried, it takes a lot of imagination sometimes to write a song
And to really, really put something into it where somebody else
Can understand it and feel it
We've been in several prisons
San quentin and folsom prison and the Starkville, Mississippi Jail
And the El Paso Jail, and, uh
You wouldn't believe it, one night, I got in jail in Starkville
Mississippi for picking flowers
I was walkin' down the street, I may sing that one for you a little bit later on
I was walkin' down the street, what?
Excuse me, I couldn't hear you, I was talking
I was walkin' down the street and, uh
You know, goin' to get me some cigarettes or something
About two o'clock in the morning after a show, I think it was
Anyway, I reached down to pick a dandelion here and a daisy there as I went along
And this car pulls up, said
"Get it the hell in here, boy, what are you doing?"
I said, "I'm just pickin' flowers," well
Thirty-six dollars for picking flowers and a night in jail
Goddamn, you can't hardly win, can you? Damn
No tellin' what you'd do if you pull an apple or something
Well, I'd like to do this song on behalf of all you guys here at
San quentin to kind of get back at whoever you want to out there
In my case, I'd like to get back at the fella down in Starkville
Mississippi that still has my thirty-six dollars

Well, I left my motel room down at the Starkville motel
The town had gone to sleep and I was feelin' fairly well
I strolled along the sidewalk 'neath the sweet magnolia trees
I was whistlin', pickin' flowers, swayin' in the southern breeze
I found myself surrounded, one policeman said, "that's him
Come along, wild flower child, don't you know that it's 2 am?"
They're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail

Well, they threw me in the car and started driving into town
I said, "what the hell did I do?" And he said, "shut up and sit down"
Well, they emptied out my pockets, took my pills and guitar picks
I said, "wait, my name is,"aw, shut up", well, I sure was in a fix

The sergeant put me in a cell, then he went home for the night
I said, "come back here, you so-and-so, I ain't bein' treated right
Well, they're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail

I started pacing back and forth, and now and then, I'd yell
And kick my forty-dollar shoes against the steel door of my cell
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile, and all night, nobody came
Then I sadly remembered they didn't even take my name

At 8 am, they let me out, I said, "give me them things of mine"
They gave me a sneer and a guitar pick and a yellow dandelion
They're bound to get you 'cause they got a curfew
And you go to the Starkville City Jail
And you go to the Starkville City Jail