Random Amazing True Stories About Johnny Cash's Crazy Life (18 items)

(#10) June Carter Wrote 'Ring Of Fire' About Coveting Johnny Cash

Like many musical legends, Johnny Cash didn’t write all of his own songs. In fact, one of his biggest hits, "Ring of Fire," was written by June Carter, his future wife. Carter wrote the song about Johnny Cash, more specifically the guilt she felt over her feelings for him despite their marriages to other people.

She obviously got over it later! But seriously, it was an intense and torrid quagmire of passion and morality.
(#15) Cash Formed A Supergroup With Willie Nelson

Was Johnny Cash cool enough to be part of a musical supergroup? Of course he was. Cash helped formed the Highwaymen in 1985 with three of country music’s other brightest stars; Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.

The group recorded together off and on for ten years, and even managed a number one single on their debut release. Even among these musical giants, Cash stood tall as the main star attraction, as well as the group’s undisputed loose cannon.
(#9) Cash's Drug Use Was More Intense Than Most People Realize

Johnny Cash might have sang country music, but he lived a rock star lifestyle. Cash started smoking young, and picked up several addictions thereafter. Alcohol and amphetamines were his main vices, habits he started as a young musician, and he went to rehab several times attempting to get clean.

Marshall Grant recalls the first time Cash used amphetamines:

John said, ‘I’m so tired, I don’t know if I can do this or not.’ I said, ‘Well, God knows we’ve been tired before, we can do it.’ Gordon turned to John and said, ‘Wait a minute.’ He reached in his pocket and pulled out some innocent-looking pills... they looked like aspirin. And he handed John about six of them, or four, I didn’t count. And he said, ‘Here, take these, and you’ll make it through the night with no problems.’

Time and time again, Cash would return to his old ways and cause trouble for himself and others before finally cleaning his act up later in life. He died sober and still recording music.
(#1) Cash Witnessed His Brother's Final Moments

Johnny Cash’s life was one of extremes from the very beginning. He was incredibly close with his older brother, Jack, and when Cash was 12 years old, he watched Jack fall victim to a table saw. Johnny felt an enormous amount of guilt over the incident, and it probably had more than a little to do with his reckless adult behavior.
(#12) Cash Was Best Friends With Roy Orbison

These days, it’s a lucky strike just to have a pleasant neighbor. The idea of two world-famous musicians happening to live next to each other is incredibly unlikely, but that was the case for Johnny Cash. He was neighbors with Roy Orbison, the singer of "Pretty Woman" and member of the Traveling Wilburys.

Despite their two wildly different careers, Cash and Orbison got on famously, and eventually even worked together on several occasions. They even performed together for Johnny Carson.
(#8) Cash Was Arrested Seven Times

Johnny Cash is perhaps best known for his famous concert in Folsom Prison, which cemented him as a counterculture legend. He also spent plenty of time inside prisons behind bars, too.

Cash was arrested seven times in his life, usually for charges related to drugs or alcohol. Several arrests for public drunkenness and reckless driving were inevitable, but the most memorable case has to be his arrest for drunkenly picking flowers from someone’s yard at 2 AM.

He recalled the experience:

You wouldn't believe it, one night I got in jail in Starkville Mississippi for picking flowers. I was walking down the street... and uh, you know, going to get me some cigarettes or something. 'Bout two in the morning, after a show. I think it was. Anyway, I reached down and picked a dandelion here and a daisy there as I went along, and this car pulls up. He said, 'Get it the hell in here boy, what are you doing?' I said, 'I'm just picking flowers.' Well, thirty six dollars for picking flowers and a night in jail. You can't hardly win can ya? No telling what they'd do if you pull an apple or something... I'd like to get back at the fella down in Starkville Mississippi... that still has my thirty six dollars.