Jailhouse Rock
1957
Leiber and Stoller wrote it as a goof; Scotty Moore's solo nearly derails the take and Presley never blinks.
★ 8.3
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Folsom Prison Blues
1955 · From Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar
A prison film in Germany gave Cash the song; he borrowed the melody from Gordon Jenkins and later paid up.
★ 8.1
Mama Tried
1968 · From Mama Tried
Three years in San Quentin behind him, Haggard gave his narrator a life sentence he never served himself.
★ 7.5
54-46 Was My NumberToots and the Maytals
54-46 Was My Number
1969
Hibbert's prison number for a title, eighteen months served on a charge he disputed, Leslie Kong producing.
★ 6.7
I Fought the Law
1966
Written by Sonny Curtis after he replaced Buddy Holly in the Crickets, then reborn as Bobby Fuller's number nine.
★ 6.5
Murder Was the Case
1993 · From Doggystyle
A Faustian bargain told in the first person, later expanded into an eighteen-minute film Dre co-directed with Fab Five Freddy.
★ 5.8
Care of Cell 44
1967 · From Odessey and Oracle
Argent's working title was "Prison Song", and the sunniest harmonies of 1967 are addressed to someone awaiting release.
★ 5.6
The Prisoner's SongVernon Dalhart
The Prisoner's Song
1924
Cut for Victor in 1924 by a conservatory-trained opera singer, its sales proved a mass audience for hillbilly records.
★ 5.5
In The Jailhouse Now
1928
Recorded in Camden in February 1928, a vaudeville novelty from 1915 that Rodgers claimed forever with one yodel.
★ 5.5