Happy Birthday Johnny Cash Part Two

My sweet Nicole Alvarez is so right. Johnny Cash, even in death, is cooler than you, me, George Clooney, Jay-Z and Kobe Bryant all put together.

How did he get that way? By being a smart, strong, humble, courageous, compassionate human, a brilliant singer and songwriter for more than 60 years, and an all-around badass mother****er too.

If you don’t know or appreciate J.R. Cash, your musical education is not complete. Please hit the MORE button now. Now! Why are you still reading this?

Having been part of the KROQ morning show for more than twenty years now one question I get asked frequently is, “Who was your favorite guest you ever got to interview?” I confess, it’s a great perk of the job to be able to meet your idols and there have been many, from Adam West (TV’s Batman) to Jim Lovell (Apollo 13 astronaut) to Regis Philbin.

But my answer is always the same: Johnny Cash. He stopped by the show very early one morning to promote the first of his incredible Rick Rubin produced “comeback” albums. I hate that they called them that because to me, Johnny Cash was never retired. I saw him in concert on a USO show when I was about ten and followed him ever since.

He was incredibly warm and gracious and politely answered questions I’m sure he’d been asked a million times before. Questions about being at Sun Records in the 1950s for the birth of (white) rock and roll. And those about the hundreds of songs he’d written, the pills, the jail, his faith and his redemption. I remember him being so interested in all kinds of music too. He was a man in his 60s but loved the Clash as much as he loved Roy Acuff.

If you haven’t checked out the other videos Nicole has already posted, do it! And here are a few more of my favorite Cash classics.

RIng Of Fire, co-written by legendary songwriter Merle Kilgore and Johnny’s wife, June Carter Cash. Dig that horn section!

September When It Comes, a poignant duet with daughter Rosanne Cash from her brilliant 2003 album Rules Of Travel.

Why was Johnny known as The Man In Black? Here’s why. And its lyrics tell you a lot about what kind of man he was too.

Please note, Johnny is playing one of the biggest music events in the world in this clip, the Glastonbury Music Festival in 1994, singing a song he wrote in 1959. That, my friends is a career. And Guess Things Happen That Way was the ten billionth song downloaded from the Apple iTunes store, just yesterday. Here’s the story of what that happened to the lucky fan who bought it.

R.I.P. Johnny Cash and if you get the internet in heaven, happy birthday, sir. We miss you.