SONG OF THE DAY
“Jackson” by Johnny & June Carter Cash (1968). Written by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Jackson” is a song about a married couple who find (according to the lyrics) that the “fire” has gone out of their relationship. The song relates the desire of both partners to travel to a city named “Jackson” where they each expect to be welcomed as someone far better suited to the city’s lively night life than the other is.
– Says Billy Edd Wheeler:
” ‘Jackson’ came to me when I read the script for Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (I was too broke to see the play on Broadway)…When I played it for Jerry [Leiber], he said ‘Your first verses suck,’ or words to that effect. ‘Throw them away and start the song with your last verse, “We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.”‘ When I protested to Jerry that I couldn’t start the song with the climax, he said, ‘Oh, yes you can.’ So I rewrote the song and thanks to Jerry’s editing and help, it worked. I recorded the song on my first Kapp Records album, with Joan Sommer, an old friend from Berea, Kentucky, singing the woman’s part. Johnny Cash learned the song from that album, A New Bag of Songs, produced by Jerry and Mike.”
– Gaby Rodgers is frequently cited as co-author of “Jackson”, because Jerry Leiber used his then-wife’s name as a pseudonym in writing the song with Wheeler.
– The song appeared on The Kingston Trio album Sunny Side!, released in 1963. Since the dialogue in this version is between father and son, the lyrics differ slightly from later recorded versions.
– Johnny Cash and June Carter won a Grammy Award in 1968 for their recording of the song.
– Johnny Cash also sang it with Miss Piggy when he appeared on The Muppet Show as part of a medley.
– The song was performed by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (playing Johnny Cash and June Carter) in the 2005 film Walk the Line.
– Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood also recorded a version of the song that charted at #14 in 1967. The song was featured in the 1967 TV special: Movin’ With Nancy, starring Nancy Sinatra, released to home video in 2000.