On this date in 1963, JOHNNY CASH recorded RING OF FIRE (March 23rd 1963)
The video here is a rare 1964 performance from Johnny Cash singing his hit Ring of Fire on the Jimmy Dean Show.
Written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash in 1963, RING OF FIRE (or "The Ring of Fire") appeared on Cash's 1963 album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.
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 has since been ranked No. 4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The song was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became one of the biggest hits of Cash's career, staying at number one on the country chart for seven weeks.
According to Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 Songs, June Carter wrote this song while driving around aimlessly one night, worried about Cash's wildman ways - and aware that she couldn't resist him. "There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns," she wrote.
Not long after hearing June's sister Anita's take on the song, Cash had a dream that he was singing it with Mariachi horns. Cash's version became one of his biggest hits, and his marriage to June 4 years later helped save his life.
The song was based on a poem Love's Ring Of Fire, and it was originally recorded in a more folksy manner by June Carter's sister, Anita, as "Love's Fiery Ring."
Cash held back on his single to give her version a chance to chart.
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