“Greystone Chapel," Johnny Cash, 1968
At Folsom
Prison, the album
that reignited the Man in Black's career—a risky album, at that,
for the times—reaches its crescendo at the finale when Cash played
“Greystone Chapel,” a song written by Folsom inmate Glen Sherley.
Cash only learned the song the night before—and his nervousness
over the number showed up as he introduced it; he later said he
regretted identifying Sherley, which could have led to other inmates
assaulting the prisoner. But the song got the biggest applause of the
concert.
There's a Greystone Chapel here at
Folsom
A house of worship in this den of
sin …
It's hard to tell by the roaring
applause at this juncture whether the inmates were reacting to the
“house of worship” or the “den of sin.” No matter—Sherley
expresses his love for God and the strength his faith received from
seeing that chapel each day, where “the door to the house of God is
never locked.” The chorus sums up:
Inside the walls of prison my body may be
But my Lord has set my soul free
The
Folsom concert (Johnny actually had two concerts in the prison that
day) featured Cash standards such as “Folsom Prison Blues” and
“Cocaine Blues.” Cash was backed by his future wife June Carter,
The Tennessee Three, Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers. The album
regained commercial success for Cash, even leading to his own TV
show. At Folsom Prison has
since gone multi-platinum, and has been designated one of the
greatest albums of all time.
While
writing a devotional about “Greystone Chapel,” I thought of
Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 4:7, how God's treasure is carried in
jars of clay—namely, us. God used a song by an inmate—through
Johnny Cash—to encourage others to look to Jesus, and to never
forget those milestones in our walk with God that rebuild our faith
when it is weakened. I wish I could tack on a happy ending for
Sherley here, but his life after his eventual release took a very
dark and sad turn.
Nonetheless,
“Greystone Chapel” is a classic song about God's redemption
power; His use of imperfect “jars or clay” to carry out His
perfect will; and how our faith can be renewed and strengthened in
seemingly hopeless situations, that for us can be our own prison.
