John L. Smith, Another Song to Sing: the Recorded Repertoire of Johnny Cash (Scarecrow Press, 1999)
Weighing in at a massive 3.35 pounds, and using entire forests of trees to provide the 1005 pages, John L. Smith's labour of love Another Song to Sing lists EVERY song recorded by the legendary John R. Cash. Alongside the title, composer, and publishing information, Smith includes all the musicians who appeared on each different recording and tells you on what album each might be found. Who would want such a volume, you ask? Well. The answer is simple. Trivia nuts. Researchers. Writers. Fans. This is simply fascinating stuff.
I have similar books in my library with the collected songs of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Who, and maybe one or two others. And I have to say, I find myself going back to them time after time, to check a fact, or to simply peruse the list to see whose name might appear. There are, for instance, twenty-two versions of "Ring of Fire." One is a duet with Bob Dylan. One, from San Quentin's live concert, has the Statler Brothers on backup vocals and Carl Perkins on guitar. I assume you all realize that June Carter wrote "Ring of Fire" when she realized she was falling for Mr. Cash's charms. Merle Kilgore co-wrote it, but the "mexicali horns" on the original version were all John's idea!
Thirty versions of "I Walk the Line" are listed. From the original take, recorded by Sam Phillips in his Sun Studios in 1956, to a 1998 duet with Rodney Crowell, they're all here. Did you know Ry Cooder played on a couple of Johnny Cash tunes? It's in the book. There's some debate about whether Cooder played on "Smokey Factory Blues" or not. I think I can hear him there, but Smith says he's not on that one. We'll agree to disagree. And the unknown string arranger for that tune...was Nick DeCaro (who is listed but not credited), so there are one or two anomalies within the covers of this massive tome. But nothing that doesn't add to its charm.
A wonderful addendum is the chapter named "The Liner Notes" presents some of Johnny Cash's personally composed liner notes. Smith begins this way, "one of the most interesting, but so often overlooked, facets of any artist's career is how he, or she, perceives their own music at any given time period reflected in self-written liner notes that accompany the album or compact disc. The CBS Records liner notes that I've selected for inclusion here will, I hope, show in Cash's own words his feelings concerning his musical tastes, at least as he considered them to be during the 1964-1987 time span." You'll note that Smith's own prose is clumsy but he's a fact gatherer, not a poet. Cash, on the other hand, had his own style of writing, and his voice is a remarkable one, whether singing, speaking, or...writing on the page.
The book also includes a chronological listing of his records, from the 45rpm singles of 1955 through the compact discs of 1998. Of course, the years since then need to be added. The great American Recordings version of "Hurt" had not yet appeared. Many new compilations will add another hundred pages of new and old songs to this list. But as it stands, Another Song to Sing is a monumental achievement of research and study. And I am certainly glad to have it in my reference library.
Did you know Paul McCartney co-wrote a song with Johnny Cash? And sang backup? "New Moon Over Jamaica."
Hey! Look at this...Flea and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers...
