Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Johnny Cash, Johnny Yuma and Ricky Nelson??


You've all heard Johnny Cash sing "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma". But Johnny also wrote and recorded a second Rebel song, sometimes known as "Johnny Yuma - The Rebel" and sometimes "The Ballad of Johnny Yuma".

But here's the weird part: Cash actually wrote the song, originally titled "Restless Kid," for Ricky Nelson to sing in the film Rio Bravo. When Dimitri Tiomkin nixed it for the movie, the track appeared on the 1959 LP Ricky Sings Again, and Cash recycled the tune as a new Yuma song. Here are video presentations of all three:





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3 comments:

  1. mybillcriderNovember 17, 2009 at 11:27 AM

    I've been a fan of "Restless Kid" ever since hearing it on that album in 1959. It's clearly a Cash song, and it's better than the songs they used in the movie.

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  2. Evan LewisNovember 17, 2009 at 12:09 PM

    In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say it was Mr. Bill Crider, America's number 1 Rio Bravo fan, who hepped me to the existence of "Restless Kid". The rest of the blogosphere is now in his debt as well.

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  3. David CranmerNovember 17, 2009 at 7:14 PM

    Yeah, I like it as well. Tiomkin made a mistake.

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