Johnny Cash - Starkville City Jail lyrics

"Let me get this microphone down here
Near my guitar
(Laughs) Let it all hang out! I thought my
Guitar was out of tune there at first
Sorry son of it is out of tune is
That right? Terry, is that right? Well
You tune the son of a bitch"

(Laughter, applause)

"We got all kinds of songs
Here's one called "A Boy
Named Sue" You wanna
Hear that one? You wanna hear "A Boy
Named Sue?" I do too i'm anxious to hear
It i don't know how the hell
It's going to sound! I'm anxious to hear it
Does that block your camera view there
Is that all right?
Can I leave it there? I'm
Gonna put it there
Then where the hell is my guitar? Oh
Here it is"

"Sorry to say that Luther
Passed away seven months
Ago, after being with us thirteen years
Luther Perkins and
The fella who's playing the
Guitar with us now
Is doing a wonderful job, but of course
Nobody can really replace Luther how about
One big cheer for Luther Perkins?"

(applause)

"Hey, I had a song called "San Quentin
That I was gonna do where's my
- hey in my kit back there where
I got all my dope-I mean
Where I got all my things -
(laughter) there's a little red
Notebook back there
Would one of the guards bring it to me?
Bring me the red notebook and I
Will hey that briefcase back there of mine
That's got all the
Songs I stole in it? Tellin' it like it is
Ain't I?"
"Wrote a song yesterday i tried
It takes a lot of
Imagination sometimes to write
A song and put something into it
Where somebody else can understand it
And feel it we've been
In several prisons San Quentin, Folsom
Prison and the Starkville
Mississippi jail, the El Paso jail
And you wouldn't believe
It, one night I got in the Starkville
Mississippi jail for
Picking flowers i was walking
Down the street, i may sing
That one for you a little bit later on
I was walking down the street - what? Excuse
Me, I couldn't hear you, I was talking i
Was walking down the street and, you know
Going to get
Me some cigarettes or something
About 2: 00 in the
Morning after a show, I think it was anyway
I reached down to pick up a
Dandelion here and a daisy here
And this car pulls
Up, said "get it the hell in here, boy
What are you doing?"
I said, "I'm just picking flowers" Well
$36 for picking flowers and
A night in jail god damn
You can't hardly win
Can you? Damn! No telling what they'd do
If you pull an apple or something"

(applause)

"Well, I'd like to do this
Song for all of you
Guys 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 who still has my $36"

Well, I left my motel room
Down at the Starkville Motel
The town had gone to sleep and
I was feeling fairly well
I strolled along the sidewalk 'neath
The sweet magnolia trees
I was whistling, picking flowers
Swaying 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 two 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?"
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"
"Awe 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 being 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 floor of my cell
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile
And all night nobody came
Then I sadly remembered that they
Didn't even take my name

At 8 am they let me out i
Said: "Gimme 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

Go to the Starkville City Jail