"Cocaine Blues" is a song written by TJ Arnall, though it is a rework of a traditional song title "Little Sadie". Johnny Cash famously peformed the song at his Folsom Prison concert, an event portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line. Ironically, Phoenix's version is of better sound quality, as Cash's voice was a bit raspy as he performed the song. The orchestration is otherwise identical. John R Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was a vastly influential American country music and rock music singer, guitarist and songwriter. ... East gate, Folsom State Prison, California Folsom State Prison (FSP), also known as Folsom State Prison, Represa is one of 33 prison facilities operated by the California Department of Corrections (CDC). ... Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (born October 28, 1974), once also known as Leaf Phoenix, is an Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning, Puerto Rican-born, American actor. ... Walk the Line is an acclaimed Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning film chronicling the life of Johnny Cash, American country singer, focusing on his younger life, his romance with June Carter and his ascent to the country music scene, with material taken from his autobiographies. ...

The song is the tale of a man who shoots his wife in the head under the influence of cocaine. There is some speculation that the line "In walked a sheriff from Jerico Hill he said,'Willy Lee your name is not Jack Brown'", is in reference to William S. Burroughs, who shot his wife in the head playing a game of William Tell, and is referred to as Bill Lee throughout Beat generation literature". William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American novelist, essayist, social critic and spoken word performer. ... William Tell (German Wilhelm Tell, French Guillaume Tell, Italian Guglielmo Tell) was a legendary hero of disputed historical authenticity who is said to have lived in the Canton of Uri in Switzerland in the early 14th century. ... The term Beat Generation refers to a certain group of American counter-culture writers of the 1950s whose writing reflected the new consciousness which became the groundwork for the social/cultural revolution of the 60s. ...

External links

• Cocaine Blues lyrics
• Covers and Permutations