FILE UNDER: Johnny Cash. Period.
CORPORATE LINE: Featuring 21 of his recordings on the Sun, Columbia, Island and American Recordings labels, The Legend Of Johnny Cash is the first compilation to include his work on American. Also highlighting the package is a 16-page deluxe booklet with photos and essay by author Rich Kienzle.
His Sun Records tracks begin with his first single, “Hey, Porter”/“Cry! Cry! Cry!,” a Country Top 20 penned by Cash and produced by Sam Phillips. Straddling country and rock ‘n’ roll, they scored in 1956 with the Top 10 Country “Folsom Prison Blues,” #1 Country/Top 20 Pop “I Walk The Line” and #1 Country “Get Rhythm.” Also heard from his Sun days are 1958’s “Big River” (#4 Country/Top 20 Pop) and “Guess Things Happen That Way” (#1 Country/Top 20 Pop).
Cash signed with Columbia in 1958 and five years later had a #1 Country/Top 20 Pop hit with “Ring Of Fire,” a ballad co-written by June Carter, who in 1967 would duet with him on the #2 Country “Jackson” and later become his wife. In 1969, the live Johnny Cash At San Quentin yielded his biggest hit: Shel Silverstein’s novelty “A Boy Named Sue” (#1 Country/#2 Pop).
Kris Kristofferson composed Cash’s 1970 #1 Country hit “Sunday Morning Coming Down” while Cash himself composed his personal philosophy on 1971’s #3 Country “Man In Black,” his nickname for the rest of his days. Also from his Columbia tenure are 1976’s “One Piece At A Time” (#1 Country/Top 30 Pop) and 1985’s “Highwayman” with Waylon Jennings and Kristofferson.
Cash joined Mercury in 1986 and The Legend Of Johnny Cash includes a track from that period titled “The Wanderer,” a duet with U2 written by Bono and U2, taken from the group’s 1993 release Zooropa. That same year Rick Rubin, known for producing rap and rock acts, offered to record Cash singing whatever he chose. 1994’s American Recordings, including college radio favorite “Delia’s Gone,” brought Cash to a new generation and won the Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy. On 1996’s Unchained, Cash brilliantly interpreted Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” as well as the Hank Snow classic “I’ve Been Everywhere” and copped the Grammy for Best Country Album. On 2003’s American IV: The Man Comes Around, he revisited old favorite “Give My Love To Rose” and gave new meaning to Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” (the video for “Hurt” was 6 times nominated at MTV’s 2003 VMA’s and also won a Grammy for “Best Short Form Music Video” that same year). From 2003’s posthumous box set Unearthed, The Legend Of Johnny Cash adds an early take on “The Man Comes Around.”
Today, 50 years after his recording debut, Johnny Cash has taken his place among the immortals of American music.
THE MUSIC:
The most difficult task for any one reviewer is to try and write something about a legend–particularly when you are handed what amounts to a greatest hits album.
The first thing that came to mind was how instantly recognizable each and every song was. Growing up with a mother and father that listened to country over time it all sunk in from Willie Nelson to Kenny Rogers to Johnny Cash. My dad had harder edges than my mother. His taste was hard liquor and Johnny Cash whereas my mother was more wine and Kenny Rogers.
Being a kid who liked rock ‘n’ roll and idolized Kiss there was a lot of common ground with Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was a bad ass. He’d tell a girl he is leaving and to “Cry Cry Cry” and then he’d shoot a “man in Reno just to watch him die” on the “Folsom Prison Blues.” “Folsom Prison Blues” was one of the first songs that I learned to play on guitar—long before cranking the amp and trying my best at pretending to be Kurt Cobain.
“I Walk The Line” and “Ring of Fire” are two of my favorite songs of all time. They rank right up there with any of my favorite Beatles songs. “Man In Black” is Johnny Cash’s explanation of his attire and so became his nickname for life. “One Piece At a Time” is a great song and absolutely hilarious—it’s a story of Johnny Cash working in an automobile plant and stealing a piece at a time to make a car.
“Highwayman” with Waylon Jennings and Kristofferson is a classic. It sounds slick compared to the other gritty original classics. When Cash sings you want to shed a tear—the magic is undeniable.
Some of the most interesting songs were those that were not only #1 country hits but also Top 20 pop songs. “Guess Things Happen That Way” and “A Boy Named Sue” are fantastic pop songs. “A Boy Named Sue” is a live version and its great to hear the crowd laughing and Johnny obviously getting into the mood. How can you resist a song that has a line like “how do you do? My name is Sue! Now you’re gonna die!”?
A swap of “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” instead of “Rusty Cage” would have made this a perfect album.
FRANKLY: Call Johnny Cash country and you miss everything he was about. Country was merely a title for an artist who crossed genres. Johnny Cash didn’t make country music; He made great music. Johnny Cash wasn’t merely a country singer; He was a once in a lifetime artist. Personally, Johnny Cash wasn’t merely background music; He was part of the soundtrack of my life.
+ Charlie Craine
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