The Man in Black!
Johnny Cash signed to Elvis’s first label, Sun Records, in 1955. His first audition didn’t go well. After singing Gospel tunes, he was told to “go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell.”
During this time, Cash was also told that when he sings, people feel nothing. This must have made him more determined, as what followed was a very long career of releasing albums between 1957 and his final 2002 masterpiece with Rick Rubin.
Let’s start from the beginning. The debut album Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar! (1957) had two of his best tunes, I Walk The Line and Folsom Prison Blues.
Just like Elvis, Johnny left Sun Records after his debut, but not for RCA. Instead, Cash signed with Columbia and released the follow-up in 1958, The Fabulous Johnny Cash.
Even though this album charted, which the debut didn’t, there were no big tunes on it. His next album was all Gospel material, with tunes such as Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
More albums followed, including a Christmas album and a Greatest Hits album, which contained another of his signature songs, Ring Of Fire, a tune his future wife had written and already released.
Cash must have enjoyed the success of Ring of Fire, as in 1964, he released I Walk The Line (again!) which also had Folsom Prison Blues on it (again!), and now it went to #1.
After a concept album where Johnny claims he’s a native Indian, he released Orange Blossom Special (1965), which has three Bob Dylan tunes: It Ain’t Me Babe, Mama You’ve Been on My Mind, and Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.
Next, he drops a themed album about being a Cowboy, which is pretty ironic as he had just been a native Indian a year earlier.
Perhaps this is explained by the following year’s album title, Everybody Loves A Nut (1966). This was a novelty album and a sign of what was to come.
Before his big novelty tune, he had great success with a live version of Folsom Prison Blues at the actual prison in 1968.
This was followed by his novelty classic A Boy Named Sue in 1969. The recording was made in another prison, San Quentin. Cash didn’t write it, but he did popularize it.
Following his humorous recording, the next big tune is Get Rhythm, also released in 1969.
Johnny Cash post-1960
As we entered the ’70s, Cash kept releasing albums and singles, and even though some charted well, there were no Johnny Cash classics during this decade apart from Man in Black (1971).
Neither the ’80s nor the ’90s bring us any new Johnny Cash tunes of the same calibre he presented in the ‘60s, not for a lack of trying though. Between 1970 and 2000, Johnny Cash released over 60 singles and 41 albums.
Perhaps the biggest success during this time was the collaboration with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings as the Highwaymen. Their biggest hits were Help Me Make It Through The Night, and Me and Bobby McGee.
He also had another supergroup, Class of ’55, with Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. This was mainly a tribute to Elvis, the only original tune was written by John Fogerty.
Towards the end of his career, he started working with Rick Rubin. An album came in 1994, here we get Leonard Cohen’s Bird on the Wire.
This set up his perhaps greatest release and final album, also with Rick Rubin, came in 2002. Named American IV: The Man Comes Around. This was his 67th studio album, and it is truly a masterpiece.
Standout tracks here are many and include The Man Comes Around (Cash), Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode), Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel), First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack), Hurt (Nine Inch Nails), In My Life (Beatles), I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams), One (U2), and Desperado (Eagles).
As far as final albums go, Johnny Cash must have made the best one. I can’t imagine anyone saying they can’t feel anything when he sang now, perhaps after 67 studio albums he’d had enough practice!
A year after his final album, Johnny Cash died of complications from diabetes, just four months after his wife passed. He was 71.
Johnny Cash Tunes | Related Pages
Bird on the Wire
You can learn how to play Bird on the Wire by Leonard Cohen using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| A | E |
Like a bird on the wire…
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Learn how to play Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right by Bob Dylan using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C C/G G G7 | Am7 Am/G |
Well, it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe…
Folsom Prison Blues
You can learn how to play Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| F | F |
I hear the train a-comin’, it’s rolling ’round the bend…
The Gambler
You can learn how to play The Gambler by Kenny Rogers using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Eb | Ab Eb |
On a warm summer’s evening, on a train bound for nowhere…
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Hurt
You can learn how to play Hurt by Johnny Cash using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| C Dsus2 | Am |
I hurt myself today…
Love Me Tender
You can learn how to play Love Me Tender by Elvis using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| D D/A | E7 E7/B | A7 | D D/A |
Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go…
Me and Bobby McGee
You can learn how to play Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recordings.
| G | G |
Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin’ for a train…
One
You can learn how to play One by U2 using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Amadd4 | D7omit3 | Fmaj13 | Gadd4 |
Is it getting better? Or do you feel the same…
Ring of Fire
You can learn how to play Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| G |3/4 G G/D C |4/4 G |
Love is a burning thing…
Johnny Cash on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Johnny Cash tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.
