The classic track Johnny Cash thought he would never record: “Not my kind of song”
Usually, the performer is the boss whenever they walk into the studio. As much as the producer may be the one calling the shots whenever the mixing process begins, it’s always down to the performer as to whether they can pull off selling a song they wrote or doing justice to a cover song. Johnny Cash may not have worried about maintaining good delivery, but he admitted that he wasn’t the biggest fan of having the grunge classic ‘Rusty Cage’ in his repertoire.
By the time Cash got picked up by Rick Rubin, there was still some question about whether he would ever get back to his roots. The last few 1980s albums he made looked like he had settled into corny country territory half the time, so the idea of a new Johnny Cash album wasn’t exactly going to spark interest in the kids anymore.
Once the grunge revolution kicked into high gear, singing about the darker side of life was almost too perfect for Cash to take on. He had already been the ‘Man in Black’ character, so albums like American Recordings and Unchained were just reminders of the music giant still raising hell in his older age.
Although Cash would get help from other classic rockers like Tom Petty when working on his albums, Rubin eventually suggested he move outside his comfort zone when picking the covers he would do. Cash was never limited to just one genre most of the time, so Rubin figured the best way for him to get out of his comfort zone was to try his hand at the new kids on the block.
One of the first songs that jumped out at Rubin was ‘Rusty Cage’, which had the same kind of dirty Southern groove that would suit Cash perfectly. The more that the country legend listened to the original song, the more he thought he wasn’t the best man for the job of delivering that song.
When looking back on the session, Cash said that he was no fan of the song when he first heard it, recalling in Rick Rubin In the Studio, “At first I said, ‘That’s not my kind of song’. I said, ‘I’ll try anything, but I don’t think I’ll ever do this song’. [Then] I heard the arrangement, and it felt so comfortable that it’s one of my favourite songs”.
Then again, even a man of Cash’s stature would probably be intimidated by going up against the vocals of Chris Cornell. Since the man has written the kind of vocal lines that can peel flesh off bones, the song would have needed to be a barnburner, but Cash decided to take things in a completely different direction.
After bringing the Heartbreakers into the studio, the circular groove of the song was replaced with a country-style shuffle, almost as if you’re on the road with Cash as he’s talking about the harsh realities that he sees while burning dinosaur bones. Even though Cornell may have written the song as a stream of consciousness, it practically feels like it was written specifically for Cash, especially with the line “I’m gonna break my rusty cage and run” being sung in that rich baritone.
For all of the great music that Cash could channel through his own music, it’s songs like ‘Rusty Cage’ that he should be remembered for after his death. He may have written immortal anthems himself, but by bringing alternative rock into the country, he managed to turn them into his own personal tales of redemption.
