Big River (song)

Big River is a 1957 country song by Johnny Cash , which he recorded with the Tennessee Two . Jack Clement and Sam Phillips acted as producers at Sun Records .

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The song is about a lost love. The nameless protagonist pursues his love across the country, but misses it again and again and finally realizes that she loves the "broad river" on which she travels more than him. Based on the city names that appear in the text, it is clear that the Mississippi is the "Big River".

This topic was typical for the young Cash. The Sun recordings Cry, Cry, Cry , Blue Train , There You Go and Guess Things Happen That Way are also about unusual love relationships that fail in a strange way. Bob Dylan described Big River as "poetry with substance".

Emergence

Cash was inspired to write this song when he read an article about himself on TV Radio Mirror that began with the line " Johnny Cash has the big river blues in his life ". He then wrote the song in the back seat of a car in White Plane, New York. According to his own statements, the lyrics were finished before he finished reading the article and reached his destination.

When recording in the studio, Cash wanted to play the piece as a slow twelve-bar blues, but Phillips was in favor of a fast rockabilly number, with his co-producer Jack Clement playing an open-tuned Gibson guitar . Cash later said that Phillips had the "right nose". Critics said it was playing the guitar that made the song a hit.

During the recording, in addition to Cash (vocals and guitar), the Tennessee Two with Luther Perkins on lead guitar and Marshall Grant on bass, as usual , and Clement could also be heard with Gibson.

Publication and Success

Big River was released on December 1, 1957 as the b-side of Ballad of a Teenage Queen as Sun single 283. In the Hot Country Songs of Billboard magazine, in which the A and B sides are listed separately, the song reached number 4 and stayed in the charts for 14 weeks; the A-side took first place. Big River became a classic in Cash's repertoire and often played by him at concerts.

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Big River also appeared on Cash's second album, Johnny Cash Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous . The album features the same recording as the one that was released as a single the year before.

Cash recorded the song several times after that. The first time in 1964 for the album I Walk the Line , for which he re-recorded old Sun songs for Columbia Records. In 1969, Big River was the opening track of the live album Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden , which was only released by Columbia in 2002. In 1985, Cash recorded the song with the Highwaymen , adding a fifth, previously unreleased verse, which Cash had written as early as 1957.

The band Grateful Dead brought out a cover version of the song, which was released on the album Dick's Picks Volume 1 from 1993, among other things .