Austin Prison

"Austin Prison" is a song written by Johnny Cash and originally recorded by him on Columbia Records for his 1966 novelty album Everybody Loves a Nut.

It was first released in May 1966 as the flip side to the second single (Columbia 4-43673, "Everybody Loves a Nut" / "Austin Prison") from the yet-to-be-released album.

Lyrical analysis
"[The song] tells the story of a prisoner who is helped to escape by his jailer. "Now all I want between me and there are a lot of friendly people," he says, "and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles." Cash wrote the song, and he must have felt a very personal connection with it, given that it was recorded soon after his release from jail in Texas."

"[In the song,] the outlaw narrator is imprisoned for murdering a woman he may not have killed. He's found guilty and sentenced to die, but in a rare happenstance the jailer helps him escape. There certainly is a sense of ambiguity since we don't know for sure if he did or did not kill anyone. But we know that he got away."