The story behind the famous photo of Johnny Cash giving the finger during his 1969 San Quentin State Prison gig has been revealed.

It’s now come to light that before his death in March 2010, photographer Jim Marshall had asked the country legend to express what he thought of the prison authorities when he played the show.

Marshall told the San Francisco Art Exchange: “I said, ‘John, let’s do a shot for the warden’,” before Cash flipped the camera the bird.


He added that the photo was “probably the most ripped off photograph in the history of the world.”

The new quotes have been made public to coincide with the publication of Pocket Cash: a collection of Marshall‘s Cash photos. An exhibition of the photos is also running at London‘s SNAP galleries.

See Snapgalleries.com for more information.