THE WALL - chords and comments

At the bottom you'll find a link to the complete lyrics.

This song was written by Harlan Howard, and first released by Freddie Hart in 1959. George Hamilton IV covered it in 1961, and Johnny Cash recorded it for his 1965 album "Orange Blossom Special". Followed only by his own guitar ... and omitting a verse ... he performed it at Folsom Prison in 1967, and further covers ought to be neglected.

Howard himself, in an interview, said that writing good country songs depended on "3 chords and the truth". Howard himself was never jailed, so he never knew cell block ten. And he never knew many chords either, so I added a few. Still it is a good song.

G
there's a lot of strange men in cell block ten
                          D7
but the strangest of them all
        C                  G        Em
was a friend of mine who spent his time
  C             E7      A7    D7      G
staring at the wall : staring at the wall

G      C                       G
as he looked at the wall so strong and tall
   C                G
I heard him softly curse
   C                 G           Em
nobody at all ever climbed that wall
    C            D7      E7    A7           D7      G
but I'm going to be the first  I'm going to be the first