Rolling Stone Australia — July 2017

¥“I REMEMBERwalking through two

sets of iron gates, and when I heard

them close, I thought, ‘Man, I hope

wegetbackoutofhere’,”Johnny

Cash’s guitarist Bob Wootton recalls

of his visit to San Quentin prison on

February 24th, 1969. San Quentin

was(andremains)California’soldest

prison,aswellasthelargestdeath-

rowfacilityinthecountry.

That day, as Cash stood onstage in

his usual black suit, he was greeted

by a sight that might have frightened

a different performer: 2,000 holler-

ing, charged-up inmates. But Cash,

whoalwaysfeltaspecialconnection

to prisoners, seemed to realise the

gravityofthemoment.“Johnwas

very solemn that day,” Wootton says.

“Weallwere.Itremindsyouhow

muchyoutakeforgranted.Johncon-

nected with [the prisoners] in a way

Ineversawhimconnectwithanoth-

er audience.”

Cash had played prisons before

–includinganearlierSanQuentin

gig and, famously, California’s Fol-

som Prison. His show at San Quen-

tinin1969wasafull-onrevuefea-

turing the Carter Family, the Statler

Brothers and Carl Perkins, and was

shotforBritishTV.Heperformed

with steely intensity, when he wasn’t

crackingjokestohisaudience.Ina

sense, he became one of them.

Cash treated his set list more as a

guidethanasahard-and-fastpro-

gram,butendedupcateringtothe

inmateswithsongslike“Starkville

CityJail”andBobDylan’s“Want-

ed Man”. Cash also wrote a song for

theoccasion–thetwangy,brood-

ing“SanQuentin”.Itsfirstline–

“San Quentin, you’ve been livin’

hell to me” – prompted hooting and

cheering from the crowd. “One more

time!” they called out. “All right,”

Cash said. “Hey, before we do it,

though, if any of the guards are still

speakin’tome,canIhaveaglassof

water?” The crowd laughed, then

booed the guard.

One of the show’s standout mo-

ments was “A Boy Named Sue”,

whichmadeitsworldpremierebe-

fore everyone in the prison, includ-

ingtheband.“Ididn’tevenknowhe

hadthesong,”drummerW.S.Hol-

land says with a laugh. “Back then,

we didn’t have monitors and couldn’t

hear all that much onstage. John just

starteddoingit.ThefirsttimeIac-

tually heard the song was [later] in

the studio.”

“A B o y Na m e d S u e ” b e c a m e a

Number One country single and

crossed over to the pop charts, clear-

ingapathforgreatersuccess,much

to Cash’s amusement. “I’ve always

thought it was ironic that it was a

prison concert, with me and the con-

victs getting along just as fellow reb-

els, outsiders and miscreants should,”

hewroteinhis1997autobiography,

“thatpumpedupmymarketabilityto

thepointwhereABCthoughtIwas

respectableenoughtohaveaweekly

network TV show.” KORY GROW

FEBRUARY 24, 1969

JOHNNYCASH

SAN QUENTIN

PRISON

¥THE ROLLING STONES’re

America in 1969, after thr

away – a period that includ

gars Banquet and the death

tarist Brian Jones – was wh

Robert Christgau described

tory’s fi rst mythic rock & ro

But on the 17-date spin thro

States, time and again they w

staged by their handpicked

act, old friends Ike and Tin

er and their combustible R&

The Stones met Ike an

among Phil Spector’s orbit

land. “I’d always see Mick

wings,” Tina remembered o

mances in the mid-Sixties. “

out and watch him occas

they’d play music and Mick

beat the tambourine. He

dancing. And lo and behol

he came to America, he wa

everything!” Jagger later a

he “learned a lot of things fro

In the U.S., Ike and Tina w

a new audience with wild

drenched covers of the ne

& roll canon, including a

burst through the Beatles

To gether” (“I said to Ike,”

Tina, “ ‘Please, please let me

song onstage’ ”). They spun

Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My

and a high-octane version

denceClearwaterRevival’s

Mary”that,by1971,would

their biggest hit. Their take

Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving

Long” garnered its share of a

too, thanks to an orgasmi

that eventually got even ra

“I don’t think it can go any f

Tina said in 1971, “because

sayinNewYork,it’sgettin

ographic.”

AtMadisonSquareGard

lin herself stopped by to a

“Land of 1,000 Dances”. By t

end, writers couldn’t cont

enthusiasm. “Vog uesaid it b

Tina.“‘TheycametoseeM

ger,buttheysawIkeandT

they’vebeencomin’eversin

CHRISTOPHER R. W

1969 AMERICA

IKE&TI

TURNE

50 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com July, 2017

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LIVE

CASH

At Folsom

Prison

1968

His most

legendary

jailhouse gig.

The title

track became

a Number

One hit.

The Johnny

Cash Show

1970

Lushly

orchestrated

gospel and

story-songs,

named after

his ABC

variety show.

At Madison

Square

Garden

2002

A wild 1969

set, featuring

guests the

Carter Family

and the

Statler

Brothers.

Cash at San

Quentin, 1969