Songfacts®:

• "Don't Be Angry" is an easy listening Country & Western song which has a bizarre claim to fame. Recorded in 1964 by Stonewall Jackson on the Columbia label, it was written by his brother Wade, and runs to 2 minutes 59 seconds. It was also sung not quite as a duet but down the telephone by Johnny Cash and convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, hours before the latter was executed.
  Habitual criminal Gilmore committed two senseless murders during the course of two robberies in Utah in July 1976, and after a speedy trial was sentenced to death the following October. Realizing he'd led a worthless life and not wishing to spend the rest of it behind bars, he expedited his execution in the face of protests by anti-death penalty campaigners. The night before his execution in January 1977, his Uncle Vern smuggled three small bottles of whisky into the prison, and already high on medication, Gilmore took a phone call from his favorite musician, Johnny Cash, which had been arranged by defense attorney Ron Stanger. Cash sang "Don't Be Angry" down the telephone, and Gilmore did his best to sing back. At 8.07am the following day, he was executed by firing squad. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England