Recordings by Johnny Cash

Album:: John R. Cash
Label: Columbia Records KC-33370
Year: 1975
Producer: Gary Klein
Comment:  This was an experimental album for John. The process involved getting John's vocals down on some classics. The mixing of background music would be done at a later date and at a later place by the hand of a slick CBS producer and recording team. The process didn't pan out for Cash. However, there were some quality moments from this effort. A neat duet with David Allen Coe on "Cocaine Carolina".

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 Track Listing (Click to hear sample)

  1. "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)" (Randy Newman) – 2:49

  2. "Hard Times Comin'" (Jack Routh) – 2:40

  3. "The Lady Came from Baltimore" (Tim Hardin) – 2:43

  4. "Lonesome to the Bone" (Cash) – 2:34

  5. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Robbie Robertson) – 3:25

  6. "Clean Your Own Tables" (Chip Taylor) – 3:36

  7. "Jesus Was Our Saviour and Cotton Was Our King" (Billy Joe Shaver) – 2:46

  8. "Reason to Believe" (Tim Hardin) – 2:08

  9. "Cocaine Carolina" (David Allan Coe) – 2:38

    • With David Allan Coe

  10. "Smokey Factory Blues" (Albert Hammond/Mike Hazelwood) – 3:18

 

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Liner Notes

 

No Liner Notes Accompanied This Album

 

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Info

Personnel

  • Johnny Cash - Main Performer, Vocals
  • Musicians (Los Angeles):
  • Ron Tutt, Reini Press, David Foster, Larry Muhoberac, Ron Elliot, Ry Cooder, James Burton,
  • Russ Thelman, Jerry Cole, Victor Feldman, Joe Porcaro, Gene Estes, Nick DeCaro, Gene Cipriano
  • Musicians (Nashville):
  • Reggie Young - guitar
  • Henry Strzelecki - bass
  • Kenny Malone - drums
  • Shane Keister, Teddy Irwin - keyboards
  • David Allan Coe - harmony voice (9)
  • Jackie Ward, Ron Hicklin Singers - background voices
  • Strings concertmaster - Harry Bluestone
  • Contractor - Frank DeCaro

Recorded:
1975 Columbia Studio, Nashville, Columbia Studio, LA

 

Charts

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1974 "The Lady Came from Baltimore" Country Singles 14
1975 "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)" Country Singles 42

 

 

Info

John R. Cash is an album by country singer Johnny Cash, released in 1975 (see 1975 in music) on Columbia Records. The album consists mostly of covers of others' songs. As one of his more enjoyable albums from his later Columbia era, John R. Cash is a nice reminder of Cash's talent for choosing great material written by others. The album's first track, a version of "My Old Kentucky Home", the state song of Kentucky, was released as a single, though "The Lady Came from Baltimore" achieved greater success on the charts, reaching No. 14. The Cash original "Lonesome to the Bone" had previously appeared on Ragged Old Flag (1974) and would make one more appearance on Silver (1979).

Cash himself disliked John R. Cash, criticizing both the process in which the album was made and the results in his 1997 autobiography, Cash: The Autobiography. In it, he claimed the release was "[the CBS bosses'] idea of an album to restore [Cash's] sales potential", mentioning that the instrumental tracks were recorded separately from the vocals.

Re-Release Info

This album has not been re-released

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Lyrics

1.
MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME (TURPENTINE AND DANDELION WINE)
(Randy Newman)
« © '67 Unichappell Music, BMI »

Turpentine and dandelion wine I've turned the corner and I'm doing fine
Shootin' at the birds on the telephone line pickin' 'em off with this gun of mine
Got a fire in my belly and a fire in my head goin' higher and higher till I'm dead

Sister Sue is short and stout she didn't grow up she grew out
Mama says she's plain but she's just bein' kind
Papa thinks she's pretty but he's almost blind
Don't let her out much cept at night but I don't care cause I'm alright
Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home young folks roll on the floor
Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home
Keep them hard times away from my door
Brother Gene is big and mean and don't have much to say
He had a little woman who he whooped each day now she's gone away
Got drunk last night kicked mama down the stairs but I'm all right so I don't care
Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home
And the young folks are rollin' on the floor
Oh the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home
Them hard times away from my door

Turpentine and dandelion wine...
Oh the sun shines bright...
Keep them hard times away from my door
**********

2.
HARD TIMES COMIN'
(Jack Wesley Routh)
« © '74 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »

Life was rough on the lone prairie we didn't have it made
The northern winds brought the cold snow flury and brought us close to the grave
You carried our child through the warm spring haul
And if all went well you'd be a mother come to fall
We had hard times comin' with twisters on the ground
We had tumbleweeds runnin' and they would almost knocked you down
We would hide beneath the storm cellar's door
And without you there I couldn't take it anymore
We had hard times comin' but with your loving we made it alright
[ guitar ]
The river swelled till the flash blood raged washing out the plains
The cottonwood stood with strenght of age and like the trees we remained
It takes the true woman who believes in her man
To stand at his side while he's struggling for his land
We had hard times comin' with sand storms all around
We had prairie hay burnin' our house burned right to the ground
Oh the hardships never did seem to in
But when I'd fall down you'd picked me right back up again
We had hard times comin' but with your loving we made it alright
We had hard times comin' but with your loving we made it alright
**********

3.
LADY CAME FROM BALTIMORE
(Tim Hardin)
« © '67 Alley Music, BMI / Trio Music, BMI / Allen Stanton Productions, BMI »

The lady came from Baltimore and all she wore was lace
She didn't know that I was poor she never saw my place

I was there to steal her money to take her rings and run
Then I fell in love with the lady and got away with none

The lady's name was Susan Moore her daddy read the law
She didn't know that I was poor and lived outside the law

Her daddy said I was a thief and didn't marry her for love
But I was Susan's true believe and I married her for love

I was there to steal her money...
[ strings ]
The house she lived in had a wall to keep the robbers out
She never stopped to think at all that that's what I'm about

I was there to steal her money...
Then I fell in love with the lady and got away with none
**********

4.
LONESOME TO THE BONE
(Johnny Cash)
« © '74 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »

On the park bench I slept on raindrops're fallin' on the newspapers coverin' me
I hear early morning motors and I know the world is waking for the dawn
But my mind's down a dark alley somewhere where last night you loved me
And in the early morning chill my arms remember still
But I'm droppin' like a stone lonesome to the bone

The sun is roughly risin' on the roofs of stagger town
The time for sweat and poison out is just now coming round
The high time of last midnight is over with and gone
Leavin' me to be lonesome to the bone

I walked away the wind blows and any way the wind goes will be good enough for me
The streets're loud and crowded but I walk my weary way lost and alone
Your hot breath and your laughter keep flashing through my mind to warm me
But the naked light of day soon makes it fade away
And I'm droppin' like a stone lonesome to the bone

The sun is roughly risin'...
**********

5.
NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
(Jaime Robbie Robertson)
« © '70 Canaan Music, ASCAP / WB Music, ASCAP »

Virgin Cane is my name and I served on the Denville train
Till Stoneman's calvary came they tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65 we were hungry just barely alive
I made 10th to Richmond that fell
It was the time that I remember oh so well

The night they drove old Dixie down and all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down and all the people were singing
They went with na na na na na
[ piano ]
Back with my wife in Tennessee one day she said to me
Virgil quick come see Virgil there goes Robert E Lee
Now I don't mind the choppin' woods
And I don't care if the money's no good
Just take what you need and leave the rest
But they never sould have taken the very best

The night they drove old Dixie...
[ piano ]
Like my father before me I have worked for land
And like my brother above he took the rebel stand
He was just eighteen proud and great and a yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud below my feet
You can't raise a Cane back up when he's in defeat

The night they drove old Dixie...
**********

6.
CLEAN YOUR OWN TABLES
(Chip Taylor)
« © '73 Back Road Music, BMI / Blackwood Music, BMI »

Well now she ain't exactly what you'd call your all American girl
And some too many truckers took her home
And I'll admid her life would read just like a paperback
And some of what she's done I've said it's wrong

But I said clean your own tables boys and bring out your beer
Cause she ain't gonna do it this time
And drink to a use to be barmaid cause she's a lady I choose to be mine

And I ain't exactly been what you call your all American boy
I've done my time in Frisco in LA
How some of youth are taking pride in what I am
I heard you cussing this decision that I've made

But I said clean your own tables...
[ guitar ]
And I'll admid her life would read just like a paperback
And some of what she's done well I say is wrong

But I said clean your own tables...
Boys if you're able clean your own tables and let me take care of mine
**********

7.
JESUS WAS OUR SAVIOUR (COTTON WAS OUR KING)
(Billy Joe Shaver)
« © '73 Sony ATV Songs, BMI »

Wagon wheels are turning with cobble colored sound
When me and little Tommy rode the first load in the town
The cotton gin was ginning out the pennies for the pounds
Like a giant vacuum cleaner sucking let up off the ground

Our freckled faces sparkled then like diomands in the rough
With smiles it smells of snaggleteeth and good old Garett snuff
If I could I would be tradin' all this fat back for the lean
When Jesus was our Saviour and cotton was our king

This kind of life we're living beats all I've ever seen
Seems some of us was born for picking things and eaten beans
Still I reckon girl or diggin' fairly well in our means
Cause Jesus was our Saviour and cotton was our king

Our freckled faces sparkled...
[ harmonica ]
Our freckled faces sparkled...
**********

8.
REASON TO BELIEVE
(Tim Hardin)
« © '67 Alley Music, BMI / Trio Music, BMI / Allen Stanton Productions, BMI »

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find the way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight face while I cried
Still I'd looked to find the reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live without somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give never thinking of myself
If I'd gave time to change my mind
I'd find the way to leave the past behind

Knowing that you lied straight face...
[ piano ]
If I listened long enough to you
I'd find the way to believe that it's all true

Knowing that you lied straight face...
**********

9.
COCAINE CAROLINA
(David A. Coe)
« © '74 Careers Music, BMI »

Morning found me lyin' on a floor in New Orleans
Looking like the Apache was about to eat my jeans
Feeling like my belly was a warehouse for the blues
And I sure miss my sweet Cocaine Carolina
Better on an oceanliner call the Cocaine Carolina
She was quite a lady then and I was twenty two
God knows how much I adored her I just never could afford her

Cocaine Carolina how did I get hooked on you
So goodbye Cocaine Carolina you and I are through
I'm going back to Sandy Scuggs she knows just what to do
She don't love me for my money she just wants my body honey
Cocaine Carolina how did I get hooked on you

Oh someone said if I was lucky I could go back to Kentucky
Lexington was famous for its bluegrass and its hills
Carolina we should get up don't you know we'll have to sped up
Baby I should go to California

Goodbye Cocaine Carolina...
Oh goodbye Cocaine Carolina...
Oh goodbye Cocaine Carolina...
**********

10.
SMOKEY FACTORY BLUES
(Albert Hammond - Mike Hazlewood)
« © '74 April Music, ASCAP »

Early in the misty misty morning headin' for another freeway jam
Sleepy eyed and shriverin' wakin' up and wishin' it was Sunday I wish it was Sunday
On the radio they're playin' love songs songs that make me wanna turn around
Factory gates are up ahead I wished that I was moment dead
With you right now back home with you right now

But I work to make a living and I work without a break
And I work when I am sleeping and I work when I'm awake
Yes and I'd like to leave the city but I can't afford to move
And I think I'm going under with them way down lowdown smokey factory blues
[ ac.guitar ]
I was born a lover not a worker money doesn't smell like sweet perfume
Some of us feel out of place engine oil upon our face
Believe me you better believe me

I work to make a living...
But I work to make a living...

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