Song Information

Ring of Fire

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"Ring of Fire" is a country music song popularized by Johnny Cash and co-written by June Carter (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore. The single appears on Cash's 1963 compilation album, Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.

The song was recorded on March 25, 1963 and became the biggest hit of his career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks.

Although "Ring of Fire" sounds somewhat ominous, the term refers to falling in love - which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that June had seen the phrase, "Love is like a burning ring of fire," underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter's Elizabethan books of poetry. She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. In the 2005 film, Walk the Line June is depicted as writing the song while agonizing over her feelings for Cash despite his drug addiction and alcoholism as she was driving home one evening. She had written: "There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns".

The song was originally recorded by June's sister, Anita Carter, on her Mercury Records album Folk Songs Old and New (1962) as "(Love's) Ring of Fire". Mercury released Anita's version as a single and it was a featured "pick hit" in Billboard magazine.

When the song failed to become a major hit for Anita, Cash recorded it his own way, adding the mariachi-style horns. This sound was later used in the song, "It Ain't Me Babe", which was recorded around the same time. Mother Maybelle and the Carter sisters are prominently featured in the Cash recording singing harmony. It is also of note that Cash tinkered with a few of the original phrases in Anita Carter's version of the song:

'Love is a burning flame and it makes a fiery ring
Bringing hurt to the heart's desire
I feel in the ring of fire
I fell into, into a burning ring of fire
I fell down, down, down, down into the deepest mire
and it burns, burns, burns, burns
the ring of fire, the ring of fire, the ring of fire
The taste of love is sweet
when two fiery hearts meet
I believed you like a child
Oh but the fire went wild'

Four years after the song was released, Carter and Cash were married which Cash states helped to stop his alcohol and drug addictions. Cash's daughter, Rosanne has stated, "The song is about the transformative power of love and that's what it has always meant to me and that's what it will always mean to the Cash children."

Legacy

Numerous cover versions of "Ring of Fire" have been produced, the most commercially successful version being by Social Distortion, who released their punk rock version on the album, Social Distortion (1990). The single reached #25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, 27 years after the single was first recorded by Cash.

The song has also been covered by singer and satirist, Frank Zappa. Zappa's version is a deconstructed, reggae rendition which appears on his album, The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life (1991). The arrangement was concocted in anticipation of a guest appearance by Cash in Europe which was canceled at the last minute.

"Ring of Fire" ranked #4 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003 and #87 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The Eric Burdon & The Animals version who was recorded in the end of 1968, charted in 1969 in the following countries: UK: #25, GER: #19, AUS: #10, AU: #8, NL: #4, it failed to chart in the US. In late 1974, The Eric Burdon Band released a heavier version. In 2006, Burdon performed the song sometimes at his concerts.

Cover versions

Parody versions

• Country music parodist Cledus T. Judd recorded a Christmas-themed parody, called "Tree's on Fire", on his 2002 album Cledus Navidad.
• On Rush Limbaugh's radio program, comedian Paul Shanklin parodies former Vice President Al Gore in singing "Ball of Fire" regarding the issue of global warming.
• Doc Adams of Sarcasticgamer.com, recorded a version of Ring of Fire parodying the failure rate of Microsoft's Xbox 360, also known as the Red Rings of Death.
• Frank Zappa did a parody called Ring of Fire where he is singing the whole song slowed down.

In popular culture

The song was among a number of Cash songs covered by Joaquin Phoenix for the 2005 film, Walk the Line. A duet version of the song, recorded by Jeff Bridges and Kim Carnes, can be heard in the opening scene in the 2000 film The Contender, although the track is notably absent on the movie soundtrack and has, in fact, never been released. The song briefly plays in one scene of the 2006 horror film, Silent Hill. It is also featured on the CBS reality television show, Rock Star: Supernova, performed by Dilana Robichaux. Dilana is scheduled to release the Gilby Clarke produced cover on February 20, 2007 on iTunes, Napster and other digital download websites. This song was included in the soundtrack to Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and British dance group Dario G released a mix of the famous tune in time for the FIFA World Cup 2006. A recent cover version is by Tim Speed, Apollo 440 and Ian McCulloch and it was Liverpool FC's official 2006's FA Cup song. The song was also included in the Singstar game Singstar Legends. Ring of Fire was also featured in the 11th episode of the 3rd season of My Name is Earl and in the 12th episode of the 3rd season of Numb3rs entitled, "Nine Wives". Travis Barker and DJ AM also used the song for their new "Fix Your face" mixtape. It will be in the upcoming music video game Guitar Hero 5, in which Cash is a playable character. To critical review, American Idol contestant Adam Lambert performed the Middle Eastern/sitar Universal Hall Pass 2003 arrangement of the song on "Idol" in March of 2009, and his arrangement drew comparisons to Robichaux's rendition on Rockstar: Supernova.

In sports

"Ring of Fire" was sung by supporters of the Irish football club Shamrock Rovers F.C. at an FAI Cup replay against Bohemian F.C. in 1994, which famously saw supporters dancing around a fire on the away terrace at Dalymount Park.

It first came into popular usage in the UK by Liverpool Football Club fans in the year 2002, with the song growing in popularity as the team and its supporters travelled across Europe en route to the 2005 UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul.The song was played by the Liverpool football team prior to their victory on May 25 and is frequently played during half-time at Anfield.^[13]

The song was later played by the England cricket team at lunch in the dressing room on the final day of the 3rd Test match against India on 22 March 2006. The English cricketers were inspired and came out and took seven wickets for 25 runs in the space of 89 balls to complete their first victory on Indian soil in 21 years.^[14]

Charts