Ring of Fire (song)
| "Ring of Fire" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "I'd Still Be There" |
"Ring of Fire" or "The Ring of Fire" is a country music song popularized by Johnny Cash and co-written by June Carter Cash (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore. The single appears on Cash's 1963 compilation album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. The song was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1963) as "(Love's) Ring of Fire".
The song was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became the biggest hit of Johnny Cash's career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks.[1]
Conception
Although "Ring of Fire" sounds somewhat ominous, the term refers to falling in love – which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that June had seen the phrase, "Love is like a burning ring of fire," underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter's Elizabethan books of poetry.[2][3] She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. In the 2005 film Walk the Line, June is depicted as writing the song while agonizing over her feelings for Cash despite his drug addiction and alcoholism as she was driving home one evening. She had written: "There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns".[4]
The song was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1963) as "(Love's) Ring of Fire". Mercury released Anita's version as a single and it was a featured "pick hit" in Billboard magazine.
After hearing Anita's version, Cash claimed he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by "Mexican horns". Cash allowed some time for Anita's song to catch on, stating:
"I'll give you about five or six more months, and if you don't hit with it, I'm gonna record it the way I feel it."
When the song failed to become a major hit for Anita, Cash recorded it his own way, adding the mariachi-style horns. This sound was later used in the song "It Ain't Me Babe", which was recorded around the same time. Mother Maybelle and the Carter sisters are prominently featured in the Cash recording singing harmony. Cash tinkered with a few of the original phrases in Anita Carter's version of the song:
Four years after the song was released, Carter and Cash were married, which Cash states helped to stop his alcohol and drug addictions. Cash's daughter Rosanne has stated, "The song is about the transformative power of love and that's what it has always meant to me and that's what it will always mean to the Cash children."[5]
Chart performance
Johnny Cash version
| Chart (1963) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 17 |
| German Singles Chart | 27 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 77 |
Alan Jackson version
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs | 45 |
Legacy
| "Ring of Fire" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "I'm an Animal" |
Numerous cover versions of "Ring of Fire" have been produced, the most commercially successful version being by Social Distortion, who released their punk rock version on the album Social Distortion (1990). The single reached #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, 27 years after the song was first recorded by Cash. Pop punk band Bowling for Soup would later cover the song on their live album Bowling for Soup: Live and Very Attractive.
The Eric Burdon & the Animals version, recorded at the end of 1968, charted in 1969 in the following countries: UK: #35, GER: #24, AUS: #10, AU: #8, NL: #4; it failed to chart in the US.[6] In late 1974, the Eric Burdon Band released a heavier version. In 2006, Burdon performed the song sometimes at his concerts.
A cover of the song was released as a single by Alan Jackson on December 6, 2010. It served as the lead-off single to his 34 Number Ones compilation album. His rendition of the song also features guest vocals from Lee Ann Womack. It peaked at #45, becoming his first single to miss the Top 40 since "It's Alright to Be a Redneck" peaked at #53 in 2001.
Dwight Yoakam also recorded a version of the song, which appeared on his debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. He continues to include the song in his live performances.
The song was covered by Frank Zappa in the late 1980s, and is offered on the 1995 The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life. release showcasing a short-lived band lineup from a late-1988 tour. Zappa introduces the song by saying he'd met Johnny Cash that afternoon, and that Johnny was going to come to the show and play with Zappa and his band, but "his wife got sick." Zappa and the band proceed to play a seriously gonzo reggae version of the song, with a caricature vocal impersonation of Johnny Cash. A euphemistic take on the song's title (meaning anal/rectal discomfort) permeates the song, and a number of other numbers throughout the Best Band release. In the early 1980's, the experimental/new wave band "Wall of Voodoo" (Mexican Radio) recorded a version of "Ring of Fire" that included extended guitar and synthesizer solos. This version of song can be found on the Wall of Voodoo compilation album "Grandma's House," and can also be heard as background music in the adult film "Night Dreams." This version of the song also includes some slight rearrangement in so much as the repeating background music (layered behind the synth and lead guitar solos at the end of the song,) borrows very heavily from the repeating incidental music in the "Flint" movies, ("In Like Flint", "Our Man Flint,") starring James Coburn.
The song is sung at the Molineux by the fans of Wolverhampton Wanderers
Use in media
"Ring of Fire" ranked #4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song has also been featured in some video games: the original 1963 song was featured in Tony Hawk's Underground 2, while a live version recorded in 1987 appeared in Guitar Hero 5 (which features a virtual avatar of Cash). The Social Distortion cover is a downloadable track for the Rock Band series (with the original song also confirmed for download in Rock Band 3) and is featured in Shaun White Snowboarding.
Blondie performed the song in the film Roadie (1980). The live recording was featured on the film soundtrack, and on a reissue of the Blondie album Eat to the Beat.[7]
It is heard briefly during a scene of the 2006 film Silent Hill.
Played at the end of episode of "Space: Above and Beyond". Episode #5 "Ray Butts" Was the favorite song of the mysterious colonel "Pancakes" who died at end of the episode.
Charts
References
- ^ "Song Review". AllMusic.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
- ^ "Obituary: Anita Carter". The poem was "Love's Ring Of Fire by Bob Johnston, according to Johhny Cash by Stephen Miller. The (London) Independent. August 4, 1999. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
- ^ "Google Books Search, Johhny Cash, by Steve Miller".
- ^ "Ring of Fire". RollingStone.com. December 9, 2004. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
- ^ "Cash family blocks haemorrhoid ad". BBC.com. February 18, 2004. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
- ^ The Animals chart entries, tsort.info.
- ^ Che, Cathy (1999), 'Deborah Harry: Platinum Blonde', MPG Books Ltd, Cornwall, p.227
