“A voice from the middle of the Earth”: The song Bob Dylan wrote for Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash had roots in country and Bob Dylan in folk, but both were about as rock and roll as one would care to be. Rough around the edges, deviously witty and incredibly talented, the pair had much in common, and after Dylan soared to fame in the early 1960s, it seemed only a matter of time before their paths crossed.
Although he ultimately blazed a trail inspired by his folk fixations, including Woody Guthrie, Odetta and Leadbelly, Dylan’s first musical affection was rock ‘n’ roll. Throughout the 1950s, he jigged to Little Richards’ infectious piano riffs and swung his knees to Elvis Presley’s early hits. During this period, he also became aware of Presley’s Sun Records neighbour, Johnny Cash.
Following Cash’s death in 2003, Dylan was among the star’s friends and musical collaborators to pay tribute. “I knew of him before he ever heard of me,” Dylan noted. “In ‘55 or ‘56, ‘I Walk The Line’ played all summer on the radio, and it was different than anything else you had ever heard.” Both artists are known for their unique, timeless vocal presence. It appears that Dylan learned much from his early country idol. “The record sounded like a voice from the middle of the Earth. It was so powerful and moving,” he added.
In return, Cash was a big fan of Dylan and followed the young folkie’s career from the very start. “I was deeply into folk music in the early ’60s,” Cash recalled in his autobiography. “So I took note as soon as the Bob Dylan album came out in early ‘62 and listened almost constantly to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan in ‘63.” Cash duly wrote a letter to Dylan, commending his work on Freewheelin’. Dylan replied, informing Cash that he had been a fan for some time.
Cash and Dylan first met at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, where just a year on, the latter would alienate the hardcore folkies by “going electric” with a dose of folk-rock. With their prior correspondence in mind, the pair hit it off like a house on fire, and as a gesture of respect, Cash gifted Dylan with one of his guitars.
Throughout the 1960s and beyond, the pair remained close friends and collaborated on several occasions. Most notably, Cash joined Dylan in the studio in Nashville during his Nashville Skyline sessions to record several duets. Among them was ‘Girl From the North Country’, an old cut from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which appeared on Nashville Skyline.
The other duets circulated in bootlegs for many years and later cropped up in Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 15. Among the tracks the pair revisited were ‘Big River’, ‘Guess Things Happen That Way’ and ‘I Still Miss Someone’ from Cash’s catalogue. Additionally, Dylan brought a new idea, ‘Wanted Man’, to the sessions. He wrote it for Cash and, after the duet, allowed him to record it as his own for his 1969 live album At San Quentin.
As his famous prison concerts attest, Cash was known as a legitimate outlaw musician. Indeed, he had a few scrapes with the law in his youth and, as the Man in Black, sported a tough-guy exterior. Dylan’s lyrics ‘Wanted Man’ fit Cash’s profile like a glove, and the scene at San Quentin State Prison even better.
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