Don't Take Your Guns to Town
| "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Johnny Cash | ||||
| from the album The Fabulous Johnny Cash | ||||
| B-side | "I Still Miss Someone" | |||
| Released | December 1958 | |||
| Recorded | 1958 | |||
| Genre |
| |||
| Length | 3:03 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Johnny Cash | |||
| Producer(s) | Don Law | |||
| Johnny Cash singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Don't Take Your Guns to Town" is a song written and recorded by American singer Johnny Cash. It was released in December 1958 as the first single from the album The Fabulous Johnny Cash.
Content[]
The song tells the story of a young cowboy who, ignoring advice from his mother, takes his guns to town, gets into a gunfight at a saloon and is killed.
Chart performance[]
The single was his fifth release to reach #1 on the country chart, where it stayed for six weeks.[1] The song was also a crossover hit peaking at #32 on the pop chart.[2]
| Chart (1958–1959) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[3] | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 32 |
Rerecordings[]
As was the case with many of his hits, Cash re-recorded the song on several occasions. In 1974, he recorded it in a more modern arrangement for the album The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me which also updated some of the lyrics. A more straight remake was recorded for the 1988 album Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series. He also recorded a live version with Willie Nelson for the 1998 release VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson.
Alternate version[]
During an early-1990s guest appearance on the children's program Sesame Street, Cash performed a version of this song with new child-friendly lyrics titled "Don't Take Your Ones to Town".
Legacy[]
- Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[5]
Cover versions[]
- The song was covered by U2 as the B-side of their 2001 single "Elevation".
- The song was covered by Steve Earle on the 1998 album "Restless on the Farm" by Jerry Douglas.
References[]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 74.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 110.
- ^ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "Johnny Cash Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
External links[]
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- 1959 singles
- Johnny Cash songs
- Songs written by Johnny Cash
- U2 songs
- Columbia Records singles
- 1958 songs
- Murder ballads
- Song recordings produced by Don Law
- 1950s country song stubs