#-----------------------------PLEASE NOTE-------------------------------------# #This OLGA file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation # #of the song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or # #research. Remember to view this file in Courier, or some other monospaced # #font. See http://www.olga.net/faq/ for more information. # #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------# Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 23:55:52 -0500 From: Chris Howell Subject: c/cash_johnny/joe_bean.crd Joe Bean B. Freeman, L. Pober Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison, 1999 Johnny Cash performed this song at his famous 1968 concert in Folsom Prison. It wasn't included on the original release of the concert, along with "Busted" and "The Legend of John Henry's Hammer." Columbia just released a new CD, At Fulsom Prison (CK 65955), of the full concert. They should do the same for his later concert at San Quentin. Anyway, "Busted" and "John Henry" sound pretty identical to the master versions on his 1963 album Blood, Sweat, and Tears, but I haven't heard this song anywhere before. It's track 13 on the new CD. He plays "Joe Bean" on a solo acoustic guitar, after "Flushed From The Bathroom of Your Heart." The quote below is his segway into "Joe Bean," which he said over the crowd's applause. ============================================================ "Last time, last time we were here at Folsom Prison they were hanging Joe Bean. Is Joe still here? Joe Bean? Hang the son of a bitch anyway, right?" Introduction (spoken): Well, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning for killing a man in Arkansas. Funny thing about it is Joe Bean has never been to Arkansas, and on top of that Joe Bean never heard of the man. In fact, today is Joe Bean's twentieth birthday. Verse 1: G See ... D ... stand G C Just twenty ...... G D G You die ....... Verse 2:as verse 1, then C G Yes, they're hanging ....... G D G That Joe Bean ...... Verse 3: Verse 4: End: (tacet) "Happy birthday, Joe Bean" =========================================================== This song is all strumming. Over the spoken introduction he strums a G chord once before speaking, and then once for every other beat in a verse. The second-to-last strum (on "today") is arpeggiated, and the last (after "twentieth birthday") is done one string at a time. He's not keeping time, but I guess if the last two chords were tabbed it would look like this: e|-------------------| B|-----3-----------3-| G|----0----------0---| D|---0---------0-----| A|--2--------2-------| E|-3-------3---------| The main body of the song is standard Johnny Cash strumming. He plays some bass notes independent of the chords sometimes, but there's no real picking pattern. The first verse only consists of four lines. The rest are all six lines long. In the fourth verse, on "It's not up to me, but this much, Joe Bean, I'll do," he interrupts the rhythm of his strumming. He strums G on "not" and mutes the strings. He plays arpeggiated chords on "me" (C chord), "much" (G chord), "Bean" (D chord), and "do" (G chord). The last line, "Happy birthday, Joe Bean" is sung without the guitar, to the tune of the first line of the happy birthday song. Chord formations: There is a capo on the third fret, and he mutes the high E string through the whole song. G C D e|-------| B|-3-1-3-| G|-0-0-2-| D|-0-2-0-| A|-2-3-0-| E|-3-----| Tabbed by Chris Howell Comments and corrections can be mailed to cwhowell@student.umass.edu Posted December, 1999