"Five Feet High and Rising" is a song written[3] and originally recorded by Johnny Cash.
| "Five Feet High and Rising" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Johnny Cash | |
| from the album Songs of Our Soil | |
| A-side | "Five Feet High and Rising" "I Got Stripes" |
| Released | July 1959 (1959-07) |
| Genre | Country |
| Length | 1:46 |
| Label | Columbia 4-41427 |
| Songwriter(s) | Johnny Cash[1] |
| Producer(s) | Don Law |
| Music video | |
| "Five Feet High and Rising" (audio only) on YouTube | |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Billboard[2] | Spotlight winner of the week |
The song was recorded by Cash on March 12, 1959[4][5] for his third Columbia album[6] and released as a single on July 6, 1959,[7] with "I Got Stripes" (another song from the same recording session) on the opposite side.[4][5][6][8][9][10][11]
The song is a first person account of the 1937 Mississippi flood that Cash, then aged four years and 11 months, endured with his family. They had to leave their home and flee.[5][6][9][10]
The song provided the inspiration for the name of De La Soul's debut album "Three Feet High and Rising" and is sampled in the song "The Magic Number."[12]
| Chart (1959) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[13] | 76 |
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[14] | 14 |
I Got Stripes Five Feet High And Rising.