The day that Johnny Cash died, an MTV news reporter started her historic announcement of the event by stating, “Johnny Cash, the man who sang the famous lyric ‘but I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die,’ died today.” Since almost the start of his musical career Cash has been inextricably linked with a criminal persona. Explaining the criminal mind to the public seems to be at least a hobby to Cash, although perhaps it is more important to think of it as a mission.
Early in his autobiography Cash describes a “violent home invasion” that he, his wife, June Carter, and assorted family and friends faced in their Jamaica home, Cinnamon Hill, on Christmas Day, 1982 (48). Cash’s account of this event begins as a violent, abrupt intrusion during dinner, and evolves into a humanizing description of the three men who had come into their home. He discusses how young they were, how awkward they seemed to be in their crime, and their decision to let Cash and his family finish their dinner by giving them a plate full of turkey. Eventually all three robbers were caught and killed by Jamaican police; Cash reflects upon this, stating:
How do I feel about it? What’s my emotional response to the fact (or at least the distinct possibility) that the desperate junkie boys that threatened and traumatized my family and might easily have killed us all (perhaps never intending any such thing) were executed for their act-or murdered, or shot down like dogs, have it how you will? I’m out of answers. My only certainties are that I grieve for desperate young men and the societies that produce and suffer so many of them, and I felt that I knew those boys. We had a kinship, they and I: I knew how they thought, I knew how they needed. They were like me (55–56).
This quote illuminates Cash’s unique perspective on criminal behavior. While Cash has been quick in his life to condemn criminal behavior and violence, it is clear that he has a deep understanding of where these criminal desires originate, not just in evil hearts that are formed at conception, but in social structure and home environment.
In other words, Cash consistently presents two themes regarding crime in his music and politics. The first is a call for redemption for those individuals caught up in criminal behavior, and the second is a contestation of the external causes of that criminal behavior.
Cash cared about people—this is evident from his history and music. What set him apart is that he cared about people that few of the powerful seemed to care about: the criminal, the poor, and the subjugated. By openly discussing the impact of crime and the complexity of individuals who engaged in criminal behavior, Johnny Cash expanded the generally binary public narrative, which defined criminals as absolutely bad people. In addition, this humanizing of criminals serves to directly and indirectly contest the fairly repressive criminal justice model that was in place for the first decade and a half of Cash’s musical career.
Initiatives toward symbolic social change are most effective when they are able to reach large groups of people; Cash’s charismatic appeal and musical talent make this possible. In fact, Johnny Cash has sold more than fifty million albums worldwide (Launch Radio Networks 2003). The ability to push forth frames of contestation and redemption in the area of crime and justice during an era of strict and repressive prisons and criminal justice should not be understated. Though its true impact can not be measured, Johnny Cash’s public persona, his innovative prison albums, and his expansive catalog of songs that focus on crime and criminals as a major theme expanded the public crime narrative and demonstrate a re-conceptualization of criminal identity and the identity of the criminal justice system.
At times Cash is spoken of in mythic proportions. A review of his album covers demonstrates an abundance of different images that Cash tried to convey to the large population of music fans that awaited each new record. Whether sitting on top of a train, embracing his Native American heritage, presenting himself as a potentially dangerous gunslinger, or silently sitting in black, his favorite color, it becomes clear that Cash wanted to present something different, something provocative, to his audience.
In his autobiography, Cash explains three questions that are always asked of him by reporters; two of them relate directly to his public persona and its importance to expanding the public crime narrative. Cash states:
Question One: Why was I in prison? I never was. That got started because I wrote and sang “Folsom Prison Blues,” my 1955 hit, from the perspective of a convicted, unrepentant killer, and twelve years later I made a concert album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. In fact, I’ve never served any time at all in any correctional institution anywhere (76).
Cash goes on to state that many people refuse to believe that he never spent any time in prison. This is likely because of the sincerity and intensity with which he sings about criminals and criminal behavior. His success as a musician combined with the public’s belief that he is a criminal creates an interesting public phenomena. Cash’s criminal persona seems so authentic, yet he is so beloved by the nation, meaning that he has the unique ability to contribute to his audiences’ perspective on criminality.
Adding to Cash’s politically progressive attitude that expands the public crime narrative is his peculiar decision to wear one color of clothing, leading to the moniker the “Man in Black.” In his autobiography Cash discusses:
Question Three is simple: Why do I always wear black?. . .First there’s the song “Man in Black,” which I wrote in 1971. I had my network TV show at the time, and so many reporters were asking me Question Two that I saw an opportunity to answer with a message. I wore the black, I sang, “for the poor and beaten down, livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town.” I wore it “for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because he’s a victim of the times.” I wore it for “the sick and lonely old” and “the reckless whose bad trip left from them cold. . . .” I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion-against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas (85–87).
This symbolic presentation of black clothing places Cash in a continual state of protest. The fact that he wears black while performing makes him a symbol of the fallen, the downtrodden, and the criminal. The personas put forth by Johnny Cash contribute just as much to the reorientation of criminal identity as anything that he wrote or performed.
Johnny Cash sold 6.5 million albums worldwide in 1969, even more than the Beatles sold that year (Launch Radio Networks 2003). The sales were driven by the overwhelming success of Cash’s live albums recorded in Folsom Prison (1968) and San Quentin Prison (1969). Cash recorded At Folsom Prison in 1968, and the surprising success of this album led to the recording of At San Quentin the next year. Although At Folsom Prison has received more critical acclaim, both albums are legendary. What makes these albums so unique is that listeners hear not only Cash, but also the response from the audience of prisoners to his music and message. The audience’s reactions, combined with themes that are present in Johnny Cash music, provide an ideal learning opportunity for listeners.
In his performance at San Quentin in 1969, Cash sings a song that is incredibly popular with the prisoners: a song titled “San Quentin.” In the song, Cash sings to San Quentin from the perspective of an inmate. Cash tells the prison that he wishes for it to fall to the ground and “burn in hell.” Cash closes one of the stanzas with the hope that all of the world will find out that San Quentin prison was able to do no good for its inmates (2000). Cash’s ability to actively contest the prison-industrial complex in such a divisive environment by itself is an interesting public statement. The crowd erupts during the first and fourth lines of this stanza. While the reaction to Cash telling San Quentin to burn in hell is understandable, the reaction to the last line is significant. Wishing for the world to find out that San Quentin has done no good is an active contestation of the deterrence model of criminal justice. The vibrant crowd reaction illustrates skepticism toward the idea that prison rehabilitates offenders and protects society. With his prison albums, a unique dynamic is reached that has never been paralleled.
The songs on these albums contain themes of marginality, religion, deviance, and criminal justice. According to writer Michael Streissguth, the Folsom prison album is:
a social statement on behalf of disenfranchised peoples . . . for by appearing in front of America’s modern day lepers and recording and releasing what came of it, he unapologetically told his listeners that these locked-away men deserved the compassion, if not the liberation, that the 1960s offered. He used his art as a battering ram to smash through conventional notions of prisoners and prisons (Streissguth 13).
As an example, at Folsom Prison Cash sings “The Wall,” a song about a prisoner who attempts a risky escape plan that he knows will end in him being killed. In “The Wall” Cash somberly discusses an inmate who becomes obsessed with a wall that he might be able to climb, which would allow him to escape from prison (1968). The inmate is consistently warned throughout the song how risky of a feat this would be. In the end the inmate attempts to climb the wall. Cash states that newspapers called the attempt a jailbreak plan, but in Cash’s opinion it was a suicide. While understandably, this song doesn’t elicit a rowdy response from the crowd, it was important for Cash to include this track, because it demonstrates a side of prison that isn’t included in the mainstream prison narrative.
Cash often styled himself as a non-conformist or an outlaw—the “Man in Black” interested in social justice. He also had serious problems with drugs while on tour, and nearly committed suicide in despair over his addiction. As a result, while he didn’t spend as much time in jail as some people think, he was adopted by convicts as “one of their own,” or at least as somebody who had a difficult life and told the truth about prisons and social injustice.
Although he would not have put it this way, Cash established himself as an artist who would sing songs about marginalized men. And although these particular prison tours took place nearly four decades ago, Cash’s music still remains relevant:
Transcending the decade of its birth, the [Folsom prison] album still resonates in the early 21st century, when criminal justice remains anything but rational and man has never appeared more insensitive to his fellow man (Streissguth 14).
When considering the long discography and over four decades of performance history of Johnny Cash, there are a number of important themes that emerge from Cash’s lyrics. In a three-disc box set arranged by Cash, the titles Love, God, and Murder were given to the discs to denote what Cash acknowledged were the primary foci of his writing (2000). What makes Cash’s coverage of crime and the criminal persona so important isn’t that he takes an overly political tone or that he is especially sympathetic to criminals; it is that he presents a diverse picture of the criminal experience that spans a wide spectrum of theoretical understanding of criminals.
What’s amazing about Cash’s crime-themed music is how illustrative it is of theoretical traditions in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. To the extent that these theoretical traditions are trying to inform policy and public opinion, Johnny Cash’s music can be viewed as a public service announcement serving the interests of theoretical criminologists. Cash’s music is very diverse and clearly demonstrates the classical, positivist, and constructionist perspectives on crime.
The Classical Tradition
The classical model of human behavior is the oldest tradition still considered relevant by social scientists and those who are interested in criminal behavior. The rational choice theory assumes that criminals rationally consider the benefits of committing a crime, the certainty that they might get caught, and the consequences of punishment. Therefore those individuals who commit crime rationally calculate the costs and benefits of committing a crime (Exum).
In the liner notes to the disc titled Murder, Cash says of his collection of songs, “Here is my personal selection of my recordings of songs of robbers, liars and murderers. These songs are just for listening and singing. Don’t go out and do it” (2000b). Consider the lyrics from Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” (1968). Cash begins the song with a discussion of his upbringing. His mother tells him definitively that she does not want Johnny to get involved with guns and violence. She implores him to be a good person. Her statements have little impact, because Johnny commits a cold-blooded murder illustrated by Cash’s famous statement about taking the life of a man in Reno. In his autobiography Cash re lays that when writing this song he tried to think of the worst reason to kill someone that he possibly could: “to watch him die.” As the song progresses, Cash’s character ends up in prison, where he begins to learn the error of his ways. He thinks about the lives of persons not in prison and he makes a promise to himself that if he were ever able to get out of prison he would lead a life that was different. This song reifies the interest of the justice system; that effective punishment will convince bad people to stop committing crime. The character in this song ignores advice from his parents and perhaps natural instincts so that he can attain the benefit of murder; the ability to watch someone die.
Later in the song he considers the consequences of his actions and realizes that his choice to kill was a poor choice. He basically indicates that the disadvantages to murder outweigh the advantages, so if he were to leave Folsom Prison he would abstain from bad behavior. The prison-industrial complex could not ask for a better advertisement.
There is an abundance of rational choice in Cash’s musical collection. An element of rational choice theory is the corresponding criminal justice strategy of deterrence which focuses on the punishment of bad people to set an example for others considering crime; this is referred to as general deterrence. Take for consideration the narrative of the song “Cocaine Blues” and its use on the albums Murder (2000) and At Folsom Prison (1968). It is the story of a person who succumbs to addiction and commits a horrible act; Cash starts his performance by discussing a morning when he woke up, took some cocaine, and killed his woman. The song later reveals that Cash’s character committed the murder because his partner was cheating on him. This establishes the character in the song as a bad person with a lack of guilt.
After the capture of this individual the following scenario plays out. A juror brings out the verdict for the character; a guilty verdict. The judge sentences the murderer in the song to ninety-nine years in Folsom prison. The criminal asks for mercy but it is too late; he receives a harsh punishment and learns a lesson about right and wrong. This song is entertaining, but also teaches a lesson about the dangers of addiction to alcohol and cocaine and the use of violence. In many ways it could be claimed that Cash’s work here reifies the system, and in many ways it does. These messages have to be considered, however, in the larger context of Johnny Cash’s musical collection.
The Positivist Tradition
While Johnny Cash presented clear and vivid representations of the classical perspective that appealed to a broad population of people, he also expanded the crime narrative by vividly demonstrating theoretical perspectives of the positivist tradition. Criminal positivism attempts to explain why people would commit crime. Why do some of us violate rules? Why do others obey rules? Why do some members of society commit violent crimes, drink to the point of alcoholism, and engage in other criminal endeavors? In the liner notes to the disc titled Murder, Cash says of his collection of songs, “We, the people, put ourselves in the shoes of the singer. We want to feel his pain, his loneliness. We want to be part of that rebellion” (2000b).
One example of positivism is the strain explanation of criminal behavior. Strain theory argues that crime results from the disparity between the ideals of society and opportunity that is available. An individual who cannot achieve the traditional goals of society, such as wealth, family, and respect, will resort to illegitimate means to achieve those goals: crime (Merton). In his concert at Folsom prison, Cash performed the song “Busted” to an enthusiastic crowd. As you read the lyrics toward the end of this song it becomes clear that being “busted” or broke is used by the man singing this song as a justification for the use of illegitimate means of achieving middle-class goals. The last two stanzas of the song perfectly demonstrate the strain theory (1968).
The song begins by establishing that the gentleman in the song has consistently attempted to use legitimate means to attain money, such as working, even begging. Cash discusses attempts to get a loan, scrape up money by selling things, and growing crops to sell. The song then establishes the problems in the family, such as poverty, extreme illness, and a general lack of pride. Cash finally states that while he is not a criminal, his situation allows him to understand how a man can steal when “he’s busted” (1968).
The importance of this statement can barely be overstated. Cash in this song is demonstrating that the traditional idea that hard work will always yield results is flawed, and therefore the economic system can legitimate, and arguably create, criminals. In a different type of system this gentleman would not have to commit crime; in our economy he does.
A second positivist explanation for criminal behavior is control theory. Control theorists believe that all people would naturally commit criminal behavior if left to their own devices. Therefore, what is most interesting is why people don’t commit crime. Control theorists believe that there are social restraints on each person and crime occurs when restraining forces are weakened (Gottfredson and Hirschi). Consider a few famous lines from a Cash and the Tennessee Two song, “I Walk the Line.” In “I Walk the Line” Cash talks about how the love of a woman that he is with causes him to walk the line between good and evil. These words from Cash’s famous song “I Walk the Line” (1956) are interpreted correctly by many to mean that Cash abstains from infidelity because of the positive controlling effect of the relationship in which he is involved (Cash’s autobiography and other sources have noted the irony of this song being performed by Johnny Cash).
It is important to note that this song generally notes the controlling effect of family. This same analysis can be understood in terms of “walking the line” between crime and the straight life. Another example is the song “The Ballad of the Harpweaver” (1960), which chronicles a family so poor that they cannot afford to eat or supply clothes for each other. While this could be seen as a scenario where crime is a natural result, faith and a sense of family prevent the people in the song from considering it.
These controlling agents are not only used to prevent people from entering crime, in fact they often help people to escape from their criminal involvement. Take the song “Greystone Chapel” (1968), which Cash performed at Folsom Prison. An inmate at Folsom named Glenn Shirley wrote the song. Cash explained this to the audience and identified it as a source of legitimacy for the song. The song considers the value of religious faith as a controlling agent that prevents crime (1968). The perspective of the song is that while some persons may be physically in prison they are not spiritually bound by any structure. In Folsom, there is a chapel that allows inmates to define and reinforce moral boundaries.
The inmate discusses prison as a “den of sin,” ironically a world free of moral controlling agents, with the exception of the greystone chapel. This chapel instills a belief system strong enough to prevent some or many of the inmates in Folsom from having an undesirable values system in relation to controlling crime. Cash pushes songs indicating the importance of social and moral controlling agents to any person who abstains from crime; in fact this is the only thing that delineates persons in similar socioeconomic and social situations.
A third explanation of criminal behavior is differential association theory, which basically states that people commit crime when they have learned definitions (rationalizations and attitudes) favorable to crime in excess of definitions unfavorable to committing crime; in other words, people learn by example to be criminals (Sutherland and Cressey). One of Johnny Cash’s best-known songs is “A Boy Named Sue,” which gained notoriety after it was performed at San Quentin Prison (1969). The story of Sue begins with his father leaving him at the age of three. Sue reveals that his father left almost nothing for the family, but he did give Sue his name before he left.
The narrative Sue continues as he finds himself consistently getting into fights and getting embarrassed in front of women because of his name. Much later in life he has a chance encounter; they get into a fight, and when Sue has the chance to kill his father, his father attempts to explain himself. The father explains that he knew he would be leaving Sue and his mother so he wanted his son to be as tough as humanly possible. The route that he picked to achieve this goal was to give his son a name that would cause him to get made fun of and get into many fights: Sue. The father in this story put his son in a position where learning positive definitions of violence would be necessary for survival. He did this because he would not be there for Sue to teach him how to fight. Sue is a violent person, but circumstances made him that way; this is not an idea common to the public crime narrative.
The Constructionist Tradition
When Johnny Cash discusses inequality, a corrupt prison system, and prison guards and police officers who aren’t doing their jobs, he is pushing forth a contestation of the current system. In addition, he is discussing and reorienting the construction of criminal identity. The constructionist perspective is broad, and attempts to explain the creation of deviant categories. Why do certain rules exist? How do rules get enforced? What are the consequences?
In the liner notes to Murder, Cash says of his collection of songs, “We sang about Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, and a host of others in the 20th century. Our heroes in song were, for the most part, anti-establishment. The loot and their bounty was the U.S. Mail, the U.S. Government or the rich man wielding power over the poor man” (2000b). This indicates Cash’s infatuation with crime as a contestation of power and inequality. This infatuation is clearly represented through Cash’s musical catalog.
The labeling perspective attempts to explain individual responses to criminal and deviant labels. Labeling theorists argue that criminal and deviant behavior originates in any number of biological, psychological, or social contexts in a person’s life (e.g., juvenile playgroups in urban neighborhoods; physical and emotional abuse at home; rational choices made by bad individuals). These actions occur in early life and elicit a negative reaction from the general population. This reaction, or label, is placed on an individual and limits the options for that individual. Eventually, the person will begin to take on elements of these labels (Lemert).
Although this is a fairly common example throughout Cash’s entire life, the clearest example is in the introduction to the song “Slow Rider” on Ride This Train (1960), a concept album that allowed Cash to demonstrate the perspective of numerous persons and experiences throughout American history. In “Slow Rider,” Cash takes on the persona of famed gunfighter John Wesley Harding.
In the song, Cash explains the social construction of a notorious murderer. He doesn’t explain why the gunman was in a position where he had to kill someone to save his life, but he does discuss the impact that it had on young John Wesley. The label placed on Harding is inescapable, even as he tries to move toward a straight and narrow life. Harding discusses how he is going to disappear in the hopes that some day he can live a life where no one thinks of him as the killer that he once was. Cash’s humanizing of a supposed cold-blooded killer is a statement on the construction of criminal identity.
A second constructionist idea illustrated by Cash is conflict theory. Conflict criminology argues that the interests of the powerful ultimately determine what we classify as values. The organized state does not represent common interests, but instead represents the interests of those with sufficient power to control its operation. As a result the more powerful people are legally freer to pursue self-interests, while less powerful people who pursue self-interest are more likely to be officially defined and processed as criminal. Cash discusses the criminal justice system as a wrangler of the poor in his performance of “Starkville City Jail” (1969). The potentially autobiographical song discusses police officers as units that patrol the streets looking for nameless faces to place in jail in an attempt to maintain the boundaries of society. This song is about the social construction of crime. The character in this story is thrown in jail for something that he perceives to be ridiculous (and that a large proportion of the population might feel is ridiculous), a curfew. He is rounded up for his status and thrown in jail to create the appearance of safety at night. While Cash doesn’t overtly explain the tenets of conflict theory, he gives clear examples of the perspective.
In “San Quentin,” a song immensely popular with the prisoners in San Quentin prison, Cash again contests the intentions and value of the criminal justice system by taking on the persona of a prisoner talking to prison (1969). He speaks of how much he hates San Quentin because of the emotional cuts and scars that it has placed upon him.
The powerful statement being made here is that the prison system fails. The song also addresses the government’s silent endorsement of a system that fails, and arguably, has the opposite effect of what is intended. This idea is put forth when Cash asks San Quentin whether it thinks any good actually comes from its existence. The person singing the song argues no, and in fact any difference is in the direction that the prison system would not hope for.
The strength of Cash’s discography is not that it lends support or proves something significant about one theoretical tradition. The strength of Cash is that he demonstrates the diversity of criminal experiences and allows audiences to gain insight into the criminal mind. By demonstrating and advertising the classical, positivist, and constructionist perspective, Cash contests the hegemonic narrative of the evil criminal who always needs to be punished. Cash forces crime to be considered in the context of economic, family, and social structure in addition to criminals being bad people.
In the realm of popular culture, it is fair to say that Johnny Cash has reached legendary status. He has meant so much to so many people, but perhaps the population that has been most impacted by his music and life are those stigmatized and disempowered groups that he tried so hard to present to the public. Cash’s ability to transcend himself through his public persona, the classic prison albums that he created, and the diverse musical catalog that greatly expands the public crime narrative means that Cash’s message will continue long past his life. Pushing forth redemption and contestation represents a dramatic departure from the hegemonic script on the “evil criminal.”
TODD M. CALLAIS is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of sociology at Ohio State University. His research interests are criminology, inequality, and the sociology of culture. His recent research has focused on the social impact of popular culture as well as stigma management techniques for people leaving prison. Most recently his work has been published in the book How Real is Reality TV: Essays on Representation and Truth. Todd lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Melissa, and his dogs, Mr. Bojangles and Cash: The Dog in Black.
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———. Murder. American Recordings, 2000. Compact disc.
———. At Folsom Prison. Columbia Records, 1968.
———. Ride This Train. Columbia Records, 1960.
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Lemert, Edwin M. Social Pathology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1951.
Mansfield, Brian. Ring of Fire: A Tribute to Johnny Cash. Nashville: Routledge Hill Press, 2003.
Merton, Robert K. “Social Structure and Anomie.” American Sociological Review 41 (1938): 660–675.
Reiman, Jeffrey. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1995.
Streissguth, Michael. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004.
Sutherland, Edwin H. and Donald R. Cressey. Criminology, 10th Edition. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.