The Essential Johnny Cash (2002 album)

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The Essential Johnny Cash is a double-compact disc compilation by Johnny Cash released as part of Sony BMG's Essential series. It was compiled to commemorate Cash's 70th birthday. It is not to be confused with the three-CD box set of the same name released by Columbia Records in 1992.

The double album concentrates mainly on Cash's first 15 years as a recording artist with Sun Records and Columbia, contains only eight post-1970 selections, and no selections from Cash's work with Rick Rubin for American Recordings: Cash's final hit single, a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", was released ten months later. The album was certified Gold and Platinum on 2/5/2005 and was certified 2 & 3 x Platinum on 3/3/2016 for sales of 1,500,000 copies by the RIAA.^[1]

Amongst the 36 tracks on the compilation are two songs that feature Cash prominently but never appeared on any of his albums: "Girl from the North Country" from Bob Dylan's 1969 album Nashville Skyline, and "The Wanderer" from U2's 1993 album Zooropa.

As a testimony to Cash's wide sphere of influence on country, rock, and other modern musics and his wide fan base, the liner notes feature testimonials and 70th birthday greetings from a wide array of artists - not only from friends and fellow travelers and collaborators like Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty, ex-stepson-in-law Nick Lowe, and wife June Carter Cash, but from the likes of Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan of Slipknot, Metallica's Kirk Hammett, and Henry Rollins.

Track listing

Disc one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hey Porter"	Johnny Cash	2:13
2.	"Cry! Cry! Cry!"	Johnny Cash	2:23
3.	"I Walk the Line"	Johnny Cash	2:43
4.	"Get Rhythm"	Johnny Cash	2:13
5.	"There You Go"	Johnny Cash	2:17
6.	"Ballad of a Teenage Queen"	Jack Clement	2:11
7.	"Big River"	Johnny Cash	2:31
8.	"Guess Things Happen That Way"	Jack Clement	1:49
9.	"All Over Again"	Johnny Cash	2:12
10.	"Don't Take Your Guns to Town"	Johnny Cash	3:02
11.	"Five Feet High and Rising"	Johnny Cash	1:46
12.	"The Rebel - Johnny Yuma"	Richard Markowitz/Andrew Fenady	1:52
13.	"Tennessee Flat Top Box"	Johnny Cash	2:58
14.	"I Still Miss Someone"	Johnny Cash/Roy Cash Jr.	2:34
15.	"Ring of Fire"	June Carter/Merle Kilgore	2:35
16.	"The Ballad of Ira Hayes"	Peter LaFarge	4:07
17.	"Orange Blossom Special"	E.T. Rouse	3:06
18.	"Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)"	traditional, arranged by Johnny Cash	3:51

Disc two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"It Ain't Me, Babe" (performed with June Carter Cash)	Bob Dylan	3:03
2.	"The One on the Right Is on the Left"	Jack Clement	2:47
3.	"Jackson" (performed with June Carter Cash)	Jerry Leiber [as Gaby Rodgers]/Billy Edd Wheeler	2:44
4.	"Folsom Prison Blues"	live version	2:44
5.	"Daddy Sang Bass"	Carl Perkins	2:20
6.	"Girl from the North Country" (performed by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash; from Dylan's Nashville Skyline)	Bob Dylan	3:42
7.	"A Boy Named Sue"	Shel Silverstein	3:46
8.	"If I Were a Carpenter" (performed with June Carter Cash)	Tim Hardin	2:59
9.	"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"	Kris Kristofferson	4:09
10.	"Flesh and Blood"	Johnny Cash	2:36
11.	"Man in Black"	Johnny Cash	2:52
12.	"Ragged Old Flag""	Johnny Cash	3:09
13.	"One Piece at a Time"	Wayne Kemp	4:01
14.	"(Ghost) Riders in the Sky"	Stan Jones	3:44
15.	"Song of the Patriot" (performed with Marty Robbins)	Marty Robbins/S. Milete	3:24
16.	"Highwayman" (performed with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen)	Jimmy Webb	3:03
17.	"The Night Hank Williams Came to Town" (performed with Waylon Jennings)	B. Braddock/C. Williams	3:24
18.	"The Wanderer" (performed by U2 featuring Johnny Cash; from U2's album Zooropa)	Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton	4:43

Disc three (3.0 version only)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"What Do I Care [Album Version]"	Johnny Cash	2:09
2.	"I Got Stripes"	Johnny Cash	2:05
3.	"Understand Your Man"	Johnny Cash	2:44
4.	"What Is Truth"	Johnny Cash	2:39
5.	"Oney"	Jerry Chesnut	3:06
6.	"Any Old Wind That Blows"	D. Feller	2:47
7.	"A Thing Called Love"	Jerry Hubbard	2:34
8.	"Without Love"	Nick Lowe	2:29

Testimonals

The following people provided testimonials and/or 70th birthday greetings for the CD's liner notes (in this order):

Shawn Crahan (of Slipknot)
Corey Taylor (of Slipknot and Stone Sour)
Kirk Hammett (of Metallica)
Henry Rollins
Shelby Lynne
Al Gore
Nick Cave
Trisha Yearwood
Steve Earle
Tim Robbins

Chart performance

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Australian Country Albums Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	16
U.S. Billboard 200	35

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[2]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^{^}
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

^ Paul Grein (August 7, 2013). "Week Ending Aug. 4, 2013. Albums: Robin Thicke, Call Katy Perry". Yahoo Chart Watch.
^ "American album certifications – Johnny Cash – The Essential Johnny Cash". Recording Industry Association of America.

[1] Paul Grein (August 7, 2013). "Week Ending Aug. 4, 2013. Albums: Robin Thicke, Call Katy Perry". Yahoo Chart Watch.

[United_StatesJohnny_CashThe_Essential_Johnny_CashalbumCertRef-2] "American album certifications – Johnny Cash – The Essential Johnny Cash". Recording Industry Association of America.

[1]

[2]