Johnny Cash performed one of his most iconic songs for the last time only months before he passed, and it was just as incredible as you would imagine.
Undoubtedly, Cash is a country music legend. With songs including “Folsom Prison Blues,” “A Boy Named Sue,”I Walk The Line,” and countless others, Cash’s music is still just as popular today as it was when he first released it. Arguably, one of his most iconic songs is “Ring of Fire.”
June Carter Cash wrote the song along with Merle Kilgore while both she and Cash were married to other people. Carter wrote the song about Johnny. She said that being around him was like being in a ring of fire. During an interview, June said that she wrote the song while driving around one night worrying about Cash’s reckless ways.
“There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns,” she said.
June’s sister Anita played the song after June finished writing it. Cash heard Anita’s performance and, shortly after, had a dream that he was playing the song with Mariachi horns. Cash recorded the song and it became one of the classic Johnny Cash hits. The song spent 26 weeks on the chart and peaked in the number one spot.
Johnny Cash Pays Tribute To June With Final Performance Of ‘Ring Of Fire’
Cash continued to perform “Ring of Fire” up until his final days at age 71. His final performance of the song was for the annual Carter Family Fold. Because the Carter family is the event’s inspiration, Cash gifted audiences with a surprise performance. Before he played the song, he took a moment to praise his wife.
“The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and Heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from Heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has,” said Cash.
And just like that, the country music star has us dreaming again of a love like Johnny Cash’s and June Carter’s.
