Play it Again, Sam #42a - "Ring of Fire"

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It's the "original" portion of today's Play it Again, Sam, although in this particular case, the "original" is actually a cover itself. Confused? It will all make sense. We are at #42a - "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. "Ring of Fire" was written, not by Johnny Cash, but by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and was originally recorded by Anita Carter on her 1963 album, Folk Songs Old and New, as "(Love's) Ring of Fire." It was released as a single, and was projected to become a hit by Billboard Magazine. It became a major hit, alright, but for Johnny Cash, who claimed to have heard Carter's song in a dream, only with mariachi horns. When Anita Carter's version failed as a hit, Cash recorded the song his way, taking it to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and crossed over into the mainstream, reaching #17 on the Hot 100. The song has been covered numerous times, but it's Johnny Cash's classic that is the definitive version. In the meantime, Cash's first wife, Vivian Liberto, claims that June Carter had no part in writing the song, rather, that Johnny wrote the tune while "pilled up." (Fun Fact: Merle Kilgore once tried to license "Ring of Fire" for use in a hemorrhoid commercial, an idea that June Carter's family quickly put a stop to.) (Info verified by Wikipedia)