Boa Constrictor (song)

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"Boa Constrictor"
Single by Johnny Cash
from the album Everybody Loves a Nut
A-side "Boa Constrictor"
"Bottom of a Mountain"
Released 1966 (1966)
Genre novelty, country
Length 1:45
Label Columbia 4-43763
Songwriter(s) Shel Silverstein[1]
Producer(s) Don Law and Frank Jones
Music video
"Boa Constrictor" on YouTube

"Boa Constrictor" is a song written by Shel Silverstein[2] and originally featured on his 1962 album Inside Folk Songs.[3]

Johnny Cash version

The song was covered by Johnny Cash for his 1966 comedy album Everybody Loves a Nut.[4]

Released as the third single from the album (Columbia 4-43763, with a non-album track "Bottom of a Mountain" on the opposite side),[4][5][6][7] the song reached number 39 on the U.S. Billboard country chart.[8][9] and number 33 on the Cash Box country chart.[10]

In January 1967 the song was re-released as a single with "The One on the Right Is on the Left" on the other side.[9]

Lyrical analysis and background

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"Boa Constrictor" is another song written by Shel Silverstein. It has a similarly frantic feel to Cash's earlier recording of Silverstein's "25 Minutes to Go." In this song, the singer is being swallowed by a boa constrictor and counting down the body parts the snake is consuming along the way. It was also famously covered by the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Cash's version was released as the third single from this album and made it to number 39 on the country chart. The snake's burp at the end is priceless.

— John M. Alexander. The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash[2]

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The third single, “Boa Constrictor,” was the second Shel Silverstein song Cash recorded (the first being "25 Minutes to Go"). It fared even worse than "Everybody Loves a Nut," reaching only #43 [sic!] on the Country chart and #107 on the Pop chart (Cash's last Pop chart entry for over a year). The song would live on, though, in Silverstein's 1974 bestselling collection of poems, Where the Sidewalk Ends. The B-side was a non-album track called "Bottom of [a] Mountain," featuring the acoustic work of Norman Blake and Bob Johnson.

— C. Eric Banister. Johnny Cash FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Man in Black[4]

Track listings

7" single (Columbia 4-43673,[1] 1966)
No. Title Length
1. "Bottom of a Mountain"   2:23
2. "Boa Constrictor"   1:45
7" single (Columbia 4-33109,[11] 1967)
No. Title Length
1. "The One on the Right Is on the Left"   2:46
2. "Boa Constrictor"   1:45

Charts

Chart (1966) Peak
position
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[12] 107
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[13] 39

References

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External links

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  12. ↑ Template:BillboardEncode/J&f%5B1%5D=itm_field_chart_id%3A344&f%5B2%5D=ss_bb_type%3Achart_item&type=2&artist=Template:BillboardEncode/J "Johnny Cash – Chart history" Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 for Johnny Cash.
  13. ↑ Template:BillboardEncode/J/chart?f=357 "Johnny Cash – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Johnny Cash. Retrieved 2019-01-20.
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