Some more rarities... Bill Monroe released a version of my favourite Johnny Cash tune , I Still Miss Someone (this upload is missing a spoken word intro);
After going into rehab in late 1983, he then worked with Billy Sherrill on an unreleased album in 1984. This would be finished posthumously as Out Among the Stars, which I assume we’ll discuss later. However, Sherrill was also doing a duets album with Ray Charles. Ray and Johnny had jammed a few years earlier during the first Sherill album, so it was natural to include Cash on this one:
While the Sherrill album was unreleased, the lead single wasn’t and boy is it one for the history books. Cash would basically disown this one, but he would promote it through 1984 and I think it reflects his wacky sense of humour:
Yeah, Cash needing the help of a TV tie-in is sort of analogous to Paul McCartney needing Michael Jackson's help to get his final #1 song. But at least it's a good old boom-chicka-boom song that's not too bad musically despite the silly lyrics. That's an appropriate-enough way to bring his hitmaking days to an end.
I think he might have also done Johnny 99, but my memory is fuzzy on that. I know he name-checked Springsteen at the show. If nothing else, he does deserve credit for trying to work some new stuff in there instead of just doing the stale old hits. Maybe I'm wrong, but I guess the sense Springsteen is sympathetic to the patrolman's decision, and is presenting it to the listener as the right choice. There's nothing in the song to indicate ironic detachment or moral uncertainty. That's what bothers me about it. Maybe if the song went on for another verse and the patrolman was racked with guilt and became an alcoholic, I'd like it better. I'm probably overthinking it, which is definitely my tendency.
Minor point, but when Cash was growing up the South was solidly Democratic (particularly the working class), and he likely was raised in that tradition, so I doubt he considered himself a Republican or voted that way most of the time. I just happened to be looking through his second autobiography, and came across the section where he talks about the various Presidents he's met, and he makes a point of saying he did not vote for Nixon, Reagan, or Clinton, though he personally liked all three of them. He mentions Jimmy Carter was a distant cousin of June's and that he really liked him, so it stands to reason he probably voted for him though he doesn't specifically say so. Beyond that, it's probably not safe to assume that he voted for the opponents of the three guys he says he didn't vote for, since he may not have voted at all in those elections. I remember once I asked Marty Lacker about Elvis' voting record, and he said Elvis was pretty apolitical and never voted, though he enjoyed meeting political leaders. I can imagine Cash may have been the same way.
There is also the story of Johnny's performance at the Nixon White House. Nixon apparently insisted that Johnny sing "Welfare Cadillac", which wasn't Johnny's song and one that conservatives thought illustrated one of their talking points. Johnny refused and apparently went on some musical enemies list along with the Ray Conniff Singers(look it up). While Nixon was up to his neck in Watergate Billy Graham was visiting Cash at his home in Jamaica and suggested calling Nixon to cheer him up. Cash declined.
It's no secret I'm a fan of Chicken in Black, a song that displays a side of Cash that was not only suppressed but outright disavowed during his "I'm a serious badass all the time" American years. Humor was a notable part of Cash's earlier work and this song is no different than the Everybody Loves a Nut album or A Boy Named Sue... a wacky, lighthearted piece designed to show he could laugh at himself. During the American era, Cash not only disowned the song, he flat-out claimed he had deliberately made it bad. Here's what he said in his second autobiography: "Though I made some records between '81 and '86 that I still like--- The Survivors, recorded live in Germany with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis; my Rainbow album; Highwayman with Waylon, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson; a collaboration with Waylon alone called Heroes--- I really wasn't motivated and neither were the people at CBS. I got so tired of hearing about demographics, the "new country fan," the "new market profile," and all the other trends supposedly working against me, that I just gave up and decided to have fun with it. The last record I gave CBS was called "Chicken in Black," and it was intentionally atrocious. I was burlesquing myself and forcing CBS to go along with it; I even made them pay for a video, shot in New York, with me dressed like a chicken. If I were running a record company and one of my artists did that, I know exactly how I'd respond, so I wasn't surprised when Rick Blackburn at CBS Nashville declined to renew my contract in 1986." When I read this in Cash's book years ago, I was immediately skeptical. Cash sometimes made bad records when he was messed up or apathetic, but the notion that he would intentionally make a bad record to piss off Columbia does not ring true at all. That wasn't his nature. This is Johnny Cash we're talking about, not Paul Westerberg. This story always smelled to me like retroactive history rewriting, aimed at making him appear cool to his newer fans. One obvious tip-off that this may not be 100% accurate is that he's got the chronology wrong, since CIB came out a full two years prior to Columbia dropping him from the label, so his suggestion of direct cause and effect is clearly untrue. Robert Hilburn was apparently also skeptical, and in his book Johnny Cash: The Life he did a good job of debunking this story. Hilburn notes that the song was pitched to Cash by Billy Sherrill, and the thinking was that it might be a novelty hit like A Boy Named Sue. He unearths a quotation from Cash shortly after the session that indicates enthusiasm: “I did a session last week that I feel really good about. I recorded a thing that everybody thinks could be a good record, a thing called Brain Transfusion, and I’m probably going to be doing it on the road.” Hilburn also notes that it was Columbia's confidence in the hit potential of the song that inspired them to make a video... Cash's silly claims that he forced CBS to pay for a video were not true. And according to this article, Cash did begin performing it on the road, and the song was well-received by audiences. Hilburn says that really happened is that Roseanne and Waylon Jennings both disliked the song and especially the video, and they eventually turned Cash against it by telling him it made him look foolish. Cash responded by demanding that Columbia stop promoting the song and pull the video from TV stations, and he also stopped doing the song live. Despite this, the chicken managed to claw its way to #45 on the charts... it stands to reason it would have gone further and maybe become a legitimate hit if Cash hadn't turned on it. As I said, I like the song. It's a fine antidote to taking yourself too seriously, something Cash (sadly) did start to do in the final ten years of his career.
Part of what makes Bootleg Vol III interesting is it includes both his performance in Vietnam and his performance at the White House for Nixon. That ultimately leads to the America album. While that one largely remains a footnote in his discography, Ragged Old Flag remained a staple in his live sets, including through the 80s... that song seems to sum up a lot of his patriotism through complex times.
Well, we can duke it out when we get to the American albums, but I totally agree about Chicken in Black. It’s a fun song in a long tradition of Cash comedy numbers. Also, there’s a lot of clear evidence that both of Cash’s memoirs are full of revisionism. I think they reflect what he aspires to more than what he actually was. Your summation of his changing views on CIB reflect that. I’ll have more to say when we get to Out Among the Stars, as I think there’s a lot of revisionism going on with that release.
In a fun coincidence, John Schneider, aka Bo Duke, has just released a new album: Album Review – John Schneider’s “Truck On”
That's a great way of describing it... "what he aspires to more than what he was." That sums it up perfectly. It's weird because Cash could be self deprecating and in some ways he was brutally honest about himself. He certainly was not afraid of revealing stuff that put himself in a bad light. So it's surprising to find out that he sometimes distorted facts or concealed things. Art Pepper did the same thing in his autobiography. And we won't be duking it out, really. I like the American albums. I just think they got a little one-dimensional, and I disliked the rejection of some of the things that had been great about Cash in the first 35 years of his career, which I think to some degree was done for marketing concerns (ie, fear of alienating his new fans).
Can’t say I disagree with that either! There’s definitely a bias in that era toward Cash as the bad boy. I’ve been listening through the Mercury stuff in depth recently, though, and I must say I’m looking forward to getting to Bird on a Wire, Tennessee Stud, etc. He really did go through a long period of mediocrity. You can even look at this thread and see how waning engagement follows his commercial success. There are definite gems in the 1980s, but a lot of uninspired stuff too. At least with Chicken in Black he was being creative and having fun!
Reelz cable channel has a new documentary special on Johnny Cash premiering tonight. The backdrop is the drama that unfolds around his Folsom Prison concert. There is also a new Willie Nelson documentary that precedes this one. I have no idea about the quality of either special, but I will report back to you all regarding the Cash documentary as soon as I see it.
I really enjoyed the new documentary; Johnny Cash: Road To Redemption last night. It was really a great and fairly fast paced overview or biography of his whole career. I guess they must have gotten that interview with W.S. Holland right before he died in September of last year. And Cindy Cash tells a nice story about Johnny Cash helping a total stranger that was trying to find his way back home by foot to be with his wife and kids at Christmas. Johnny gave him all the cash he had in his pocket (around $1,000 because he had just been to the bank) and told the stranger to buy a train ticket and some presents for his three girls. Also interesting details on the Folsom concert as well. I don't think I had ever heard the part about Governor Ronald Reagan paying an unexpected visit to the prison, which Holland somehow missed out on as he was visiting the restroom or something, Lol. The special went by really fast and I want to see it again. I would like to hear what @jalexander and @czeskleba think of the documentary as they are far more familiar with the details of Johnny Cash's career than myself.
Not sure if I can get this outside the US, but there’s a promo clip with Cindy’s touching story: Definitely looks interesting! Is it focused on Folsom as a turning point in his career? For a long time I believed the redemption story in Johnny’s first memoir (which was published by Christian imprint Zondervan so has a religious bent)... went to the cave to die... June and Maybelle pulled him out... locked I a room for a month to get clean... then Folsom and marriage are his rebirth. His second memoir reiterates this story and adds his return to rehab in 1983 as a result of needing morphine following the ostrich attack on his farm. Of course, this is myth making grounded in some truth. The cave, the sobering up, Folsom and marriage were all a part of his rebirth. But it wasn’t a light switch. We know he didn’t really get sober until after John was born, and he was back on pills in the late 70s. Walk the Line supported the myth. Interested to see if this one leans closer to myth or reality.
It is very well done, but obviously Cash's story needs more time than an hour. They cover the origin of Folsom Prison Blues, which was borrowed heavily from Crescent City Blues by Gordon Jenkins of course. It definitely plays up both of his prison albums as being pivotal to his artistic and commercial comeback (No number one song for six years). They cover the whole up and down and ultimately tragic story of Cash's friendship and promotion of prisoner Glen Sherley, who of course wrote the last song on the live Folsom album, Greystone Chapel. The documentary pretty much blows through the 70's and 80's, but than picks up the story again with his resurgence with Rick Rubin. John Schneider is featured in an on camera interview and gives Cash credit for converting him to Christianity. One of the best lines from the narrator of the film; "Throughout his life, Cash is a devoted Christian, though he declares himself the biggest sinner of all." To me that pretty much wraps it up in one sentence, Lol. They cover his great comeback with Hurt and its fantastic video ( My very favorite music video of all time from any artist). I think it is also interesting how highly second daughter Cindy Cash speaks of the love that John and June had for each other until the end. Considering that she was Vivian's daughter and not June's, that says a lot about the love story between June and Johnny, even if it was not without its ups and downs. Oh, it was not W.S. Holland who missed the meeting with then Governor Ronald Reagan, but a reporter who was covering the event at the time and interviewed for the documentary. I somehow got that mixed up too, Lol.
It's also organic with the whole worldview depicted in that album (Springsteen's best). Honestly, had it been the other way, it would've felt like a misfire, imposing a blatant wish on the proceedings. Anyway, Cash does a fine job with it.
The Glen Sherley story is a good one to cover. Shows both Cash’s interest in everyday people, his generosity, but also the complexity that comes with it. John Schneider is an obscure one to bring in as a voice, so good for them for bringing that up. We’re not too far out from a great collaboration between Cash and Schneider.
Better late than never, right? Koncert v Praze (In Prague – Live) Live album by Johnny Cash Released October 1983 Recorded April 11, 1978 Venue Sportovní hala, Prague Genre Country, rock, folk Label Columbia & Supraphon Producer Michal Bukovič Koncert v Praze (In Prague – Live) (1983) is an album by American country singer Johnny Cash. Recorded in 1978, the album was released in 1983 and featured a bilingual (Czech-English) biography of Johnny Cash. The album was originally released by Supraphon in Czechoslovakia only; according to music historian Rich Kienzle, the album's first release beyond Europe occurred with its inclusion in the 2012 Columbia Records CD box set Johnny Cash: The Complete Columbia Album Collection. A re-release on red translucent vinyl, with the original artwork, was pressed for Record Store Day in 2015. The album is notable for devoting nearly all of Side B to railroad-related songs, including a 10-minute medley. It was also, in terms of order of first release, the final album to feature Cash's original bass player Marshall Grant, who left the group several years prior to its release, but is featured owing to this being a live recording from 1978. The concert featured on the album is a different performance from the one released on VHS/DVD from the same tour. Track listing "Ring of Fire" "Folsom Prison Blues" "I Still Miss Someone" "Big River" "I Ride an Old Paint" & "Streets of Laredo" "Sunday Morning Coming Down" "I Walk the Line" "Last Date" "City of New Orleans" "Hey Porter" & "Wreck Of the Old '97" & "Casey Jones" & "Orange Blossom Special" "Wabash Cannonball" Koncert v Praze (In Prague – Live) - Wikipedia ~~~~~ A throwback to 1978 here. Wiki notes the record release is not the same as the version released on VHS/DVD later, but there is a 45 minute version of a 1978 Prague show on Youtube: A longer version featuring performances from other singers can also be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j7C_6SR-Oc It's not on Youtube Music, at least, so I figured these video uploads would be suitable for this post. Sounds pretty good to me; of note here is that the credited Tennessee Three is actually a Tennessee Five (Marshall, Fluke, and Bob plus Jerry Hensley on guitar and Earl Ball on piano (and MC of sorts, per the live video). Going to note a couple of singles here as well:
First off, shoutout to @czeskleba for noting Cash's 1982 Dukes of Hazzard soundtrack contribution. This one didn't show up on a Cash album yet (does it ever?) so I indeed had skipped it. Thanks too to @jalexander for once again filling in the gaps, and discussing Cash's 1984 The Chicken In Black: "The Chicken in Black" Single by Johnny Cash A-side "The Chicken in Black" B-side "Battle of Nashville" Released 1984 Genre Country Label Columbia Bros. 38-04513 Songwriter(s) Gary Gentry Producer(s) Billy Sherrill "The Chicken in Black" is a song written by Gary Gentry and originally recorded by Johnny Cash. Released as a single in 1984 (Columbia 38-04513, with "Battle of Nashville" on the opposite side), the song reached number 45 on U.S. Billboard's country chart. Track listing 7" single (Columbia 38-04513, 1984) No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "The Chicken in Black" G. Gentry 2:58 2. "Battle of Nashville" J. R. Cash 3:17 The Chicken in Black - Wikipedia ~~~~~ "The Chicken in Black" "Battle of Nashville" Not a lot to say here that hasn't already been discussed. What a record, huh? Also from 1984: Johnny Cash With The Carter Family – The Three Bells Label: Columbia – 38-04740 Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single Country: US Released: 1984 Genre: Folk, World, & Country Style: Country Tracklist A Johnny Cash With The Carter Family– The Three Bells Written-By – B. Reisfeld*, J. Villard* 3:40 B Johnny Cash– They Killed Him Written-By – K. Kristofferson* 3:51 Not clear here on why these songs were also not included on an album. Were they Billy Sherrill productions as well that met the same fate as Chicken in Black?
The B-side: Another thoughtful record from Cash, recently shared by the Johnny Cash museum's Facebook page this past April 4. Not a lot to say here without violating forum rules, of course. ~~~~~ To clean up 1984, there's one more compilation: Biggest Hits - Wikipedia Nothing that hasn't already been released there; a bizarre set including the 1960s A Boy Named Sue and the 1980s The Baron, among others. Finally, I can say: Next: Johnny Cash, Chips Moman, and the Texas Three. You know the album. Index to follow:
