What Did Happen to Johnny's Cash?

Song 218: This week marks Johnny Cash's first appearance on this playlist with Folsom Prison Blues, and it's also my second sly reference to the first verse of my song As Long as Merle is Still Haggard, which opens with the line Now Pam Tillis the truth now, what happened to Johnny's Cash? (the Pam Tillis record Don't Tell Me What to Do being the first sly ref, as Song 210). Long before I understood the meaning of rock and roll, I knew or at least recognized a number of country songs, having heard them at the homes of relatives and family friends, and though my family didn't actively listen to any music other than church music, the parents didn't as a rule object to me hearing country tunes, contrary to how they would react as my interest in RnR developed. I don't remember the first time I heard this track, but I got to recognize it well before my teen years, and my father did mention that he had some concerns with his sons learning a song about a man who shot someone just to watch the person die, though Dad didn't turn off the radio or tell us not to listen to the tune. In a much later era, the song popped up on the local hit radio station in the summer before my final year of high school, as an updated and up-tempo live version (actually recorded At Folsom Prison) of a golden oldie that, despite its subject matter, seemed tame compared to the latest new stuff rocking the transistors. Then moving to a much later era again, in the mid-'80s, if I really did play bass in a country bar pick-up band, as the rumor goes, then it's quite possible that I could have been spotted singing lead on this song and guiding the rest of the crew through the changes -- if someone says they saw me do it, they might be telling the truth. On a side note, I feel I should mention that according to the Wickipedia page for this song, while JC did write the piece, apparently he borrowed very heavily from a 1953 track called Crescent City Blues by Gordon Jenkins, to such an extent that in the early 1970s he actually payed Mr. Jenkins a settlement of around $75,000. On a second side note, doing the As Long as Merle is Still Haggard video in 1995, for the Johnny Cash line I wanted to have the Rolling Stone calendar picture of JC hanging nearby and clearly visible in the scene where Herb looks at me and shakes his head, but my friend (engineer and co-producer) David Seitz told me that I could get sued if I didn't get clearance from the photographer who took the shot. A quick phone call informed me that the photographer's permission would cost about $1,000, so you don't see JC's calendar photo in the video, or any other major pictures of those named in the song. I had thought of various ways to include images of country singers in the video, such as flashing some of their album covers in the scene where Keith throws a bunch in the garbage can (and I come back and take them out), but for the final cut, I made sure we didn't include any footage where those covers could be clearly seen, because I didn't feel like asking for trouble, having learned long ago what usually happens when you do. By the way, you can catch the As Long as Merle is Still Haggard video here.