I bet there’s rich folks eatin’ In a fancy dinin’ car They’re probably drinkin’ coffee And smokin’ big cigars Well I know I had it comin’ I know I can’t be free But those people keep a-movin’ And that’s what tortures me
Well, if they freed me from this prison If that railroad train was mine I bet I’d move it on a little Farther down the line Far from Folsom Prison That’s where I want to stay And I’d let that lonesome whistle Blow my blues away
1. How does this song fi t in with the theme of this section (death)?
2. Considering what you have learned about music in poetry, do you think that these lyrics contain techniques that give them a musical quality, even before they are sung? Identify the techniques and the lines in which they appear.
3. There are many words abbreviated in this song. Why, do you think, has the lyricist done this? What eff ect do they have on your reading of the lyrics?
4. Identify the tone of the song.
You have been given the opportunity to interview a prison inmate. M
❍ Work in pairs. Decide who will be the interviewer and who will be the interviewee (person being interviewed).
❍ Create a set of questions that the interviewer might ask the inmate and imagine what their answers might be. For example:
What do you imagine their life in prison is like?
How did they end up in prison?
When are they being released?
P. 85
❍ Use a mixture of open and closed questions (open questions allow for more information; closed questions only require one- word answers). For example:
‘What is your name?’ (closed)
320 FIRE & ICE 2
‘What is a typical day for you like?’ (open)
Go to your Writing Skills Book for an interview template to help you complete this exercise.
