25 Minutes to Go

25 Minutes to Go is a song performed by Johnny Cash on his famous 1968 concert album, At Folsom Prison. The song was written by Shel Silverstein, and Cash had earlier recorded it for his 1965 album Sings the Ballads of the True West.

The song is literally "gallows humor", as it is sung by a man awaiting his own execution by hanging. Each verse consists of two lines, of which the first line is anything from humorous to poignant, and the second line is a minute-by-minute countdown. Cash's version, excerpted below, varied somewhat from Silverstein's original lyrics:

Well, they're building a gallows outside my cell;

And I've got 25 minutes to go.

And whole town's comin' just to hear me yell;

I've got 24 minutes to go.

...

I can see the buzzards, I can hear the crows;

1 more minute to go.

And now I'm swingin'!

And here I go-oh-oh-oh-oh...

At the section:

Then the sheriff said boy, I'm gonna watch you die;

Got 19 minutes to go;

So I laughed in his face and I spit in his eye;

Got 18 minutes to go;

The inmates legitimately erupted in cheering, apparently forgetting about or no longer caring about the threat of reprisal from the guards ,

In the live prison concert recording, Cash fluffed one line, singing "5 more minutes to go" instead of "7 more minutes to go" and followed this by "7 more minutes to go" then "3 more minutes to go" before recovering to finish.

The song is similar in concept to Silverstein's kiddy song "Boa Constrictor": It presents the point of view of someone who is experiencing a calamity in "real time", composing and singing as the events unfold, with a fatal conclusion. ("Boa Constrictor", like "25 Minutes to Go", appeared on Silverstein's 1962 album Inside Folk Songs and was also covered by Cash, on his 1966 album Everybody Loves a Nut.)

Cover versions

• American avant-garde singer Diamanda Galás on Malediction & Prayer (1998, Asphodel Records).
• American rock band Pearl Jam on their 2004 album Live at Benaroya Hall.
• British cult band Tiger Lillies on 2 Penny Opera (2001).
• American folk singer Tom Frampton on Making Folk A Threat Again!, Vol. 1 (2004).

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