9. He was sued for copyright infringement over Folsom Prison Blues
Johnny Cash wrote Folsom Prison Blues while in Germany after watching a movie. Two years earlier an experimental album which consisted of seven radio plays, each an event on a train journey, was released entitled Seven Dreams. The journey passes through Crescent City, where a character hears a woman singing a song entitled Crescent City Blues. Though slower in tempo than Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues, the melody is virtually the same and some lines from the lyrics are identical, including, “I hear the train a coming/It’s rollin’ round the bend”. Crescent City Blues was written by composer Gordon Jenkins and sung on the record by his wife, Beverly Mahr.
When Cash’s song became a hit again in 1968, Jenkins sued for copyright infringement and a percentage of the royalties. The similarities were so clear that Cash didn’t attempt to deny that he had lifted part of the song, explaining that at the time it was written he had no intention of embarking on a recording career. He also explained that he had informed Sam Phillips of the contribution to his composition from Crescent City Blues and that the Sun Records owner had told him not to worry about it, and no acknowledgment was made of the parts plagiarized from Jenkins’ work. Cash paid Jenkins a settlement of about $75,000 to settle the infringement suit.