Cocaine blues

The song is a story about a man named Willie Lee, who, under the influence of whiskey and cocaine , kills his unfaithful girlfriend. He escapes to Mexico and works as a musician to make money on drugs. Then he is arrested by a Jericho Hill sheriff, he is tried and quickly sentenced at 99 years old in San Quentin Prison . The song ends with Willy pleading with the audience:

Well, addicts, listen to me.
Drink as much as you want, but leave cocaine alone.

The song was first recorded by WA Nichol's Western Aces (with vocals by Red Arnall) - most likely in 1947, and Roy Hogsed & the Rainbow Riders ( Roy Hogzed and Rainbow Riders) - on May 25, 1947 at Universal Recorders Studios in Hollywood (California State). Ray Hogsed's version was released on Coast Records (catalog number 262) and Capitol (catalog number 40120). The publication on Capitol reached number 15 in the USA on the country chart of Billboard magazine ^[1] .

Johnny Cash performed this song at his famous concert at Folsom Prison in 1968 . He changed the text at that concert a little: replaced “ San Quentin ” with “ Folsom ”, “Well, drug addicts ...” with “Well, you have to listen to me ...”, and the last line “Drink, as much as you want ”on“ Stop drinking whiskey ”. At the same time, he sang: “I can’t forget the day I shot this bad bitch,” and this part was not the Columbia Records label censored on the album that saw the light of the same year with this concert.