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Friday, Feb 26 2016, 6AM
Good morning and happy Friday. Today, we're celebrating the music and influence of Johnny Cash. For starters, here are "five badass hair lessons" you can learn from Johnny Cash: www.gq.com
6:02 AM
50th spin
He was born on February 26th, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. Here's one biography: www.gq.com
Read the story behind Johnny Cash's "Hurt," "still the saddest music video of all time": www.independent.co.uk
This song received a Grammy nomination for Best Song in 1996. See the original from Nine Inch Nails: www.youtube.com
"I'm in heaven...." Watch a scene-by -scene look at the video for David Bowie's parting music, "Lazarus": mashable.com
This song was recorded during the session for Johnny Cash's last album. Producer Rick Rubin says, “Joe was coming every day, because he loved Johnny Cash, and he just happened to be in L.A. on vacation. And he actually extended his trip a week longer just to come every day and be around Johnny.”:www.openculture.com
Watch a global cast of musicians, Playing for Change, perform Bob Marley's "Redemption Song": www.openculture.com
This painful song looks at disaffection and misery in England, Vietnam, and the Americas: www.songfacts.com
Sound familiar? M.I.A. sampled "Straight to Hell" extensively in this song and credited The Clash as co-writers of "Paper Planes": en.wikipedia.org
Johnny Cash was an early inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: rockhall.com
"Everything dies baby that's a fact..." Here are the lyrics to Springsteen's "Atlantic City": www.azlyrics.com
Salon Magazine includes this in its list of the best Springsteen covers of all time. Read the article and watch the videos of The National, Bat for Lashes, Junip, and Titus Andronicus: www.salon.com
Here's Johnny singing "Look At Them Beans": www.youtube.com
This is a version of an old English folk song about a bitterly unrepentant criminal who is condemned to death.
Here's a teacher's lesson plan for using the personal narrative of Johnny Cash's "Five Feet High and Rising": www.pbs.org
Johnny Cash said on is TV show that the "eerie hum" that preceded each verse was to get his pitch.: www.songfacts.com
Watch these two sing this cowboy morality play: www.youtube.com
"Well, there's a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas...." Enjoy the lyrics to this delightful satire: www.metrolyrics.com
Here are 25 things you may not know about country icon Willie Nelson: theboot.com
7:10 AM
14th spin
This song was written by Shel Silverstein and has the same feeling as his song, "I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor": en.wikipedia.org
Johnny Cash's message to June Carter is considered the greatest love letter of all time: www.independent.co.uk
Watch the video for Blondie's cover of "Ring of Fire": www.youtube.com
Here's a link to Orange County punk band Social Distortion's official website: www.socialdistortion.com
President Obama led the singalong at at Ray Charles tribute last night: www.bbc.com
Here's a "notable biography" of Ray Charles: www.notablebiographies.com
The first episode of The Johnny Cash Show featured Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell: www.openculture.com
Watch Loving Spoonful's John Sebastian (the song's writer) and "Mama" Cass Elliott perform this song: www.youtube.com
To whom does this song refer? Read a discussion here: www.songplaces.com
This song appeared on Dylan's 1967 album, "John Wesley Harding." Since the 1970's, he has performed it live more often than any other song.
Dylan said that he was a great fan of Hendrix's version of his song. Here are the cryptic lyrics: genius.com
Learn the true story of the murder of 14-year-old Delia Green: kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com
Will Oldham, aka Bonnie Prince Billy, wrote this song and sings the backup vocals.
Will Oldham has recorded under several names, including Palace Music. Watch video of a live performance in the KEXP studio: blog.kexp.org
"Personal Jesus" is a Depeche Mode cover. The song was from their seventh studio album, "Violator," and has been voted one of the "100 best songs ever" by Q Magazine.
This song was inspired by Priscilla Presley's "Elvis And Me," which describes their relationship: www.songfacts.com
Ahhh....the Friday song. Get tickets now for the John in the Morning at Night celebration on Friday, March 18th, with The Dandy Warhols, Young Fathers, Battleme, and special guests: blog.kexp.org
This is one of the few U2 songs without Bono providing lead vocals. The Edge harmonizes with Cash through the song, but the howl at the end is Bono.: www.youtube.com
The line, "Did I disappoint you, or leave a bad taste in your mouth?" is "downright indignant," according to this countdown of Johnny Cash's top cover songs: www.rollingstone.com
This cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" was Grammy nominated for Best Country Male Vocal Performance: www.youtube.com
Here's the Soundgarden original, written by Chris Cornell: www.youtube.com
The Highwaymen were Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. (Whew!) Each sang a different verse of this song by Jimmy Webb. This version of Webb's song won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1985
Waylon Jennings died on February 13, 2002. Here's an obituary: www.countryweekly.com
Watch Hank Williams singing his original composition, "I Saw The Light": www.youtube.com
This song about loneliness by Hank Williams was called by Elvis Presley, "the saddest song I've ever heard."
"The Mercy Street" was written by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and was performed on the 1988 album, "Tender Prey."
Get "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!," a KEXP Song of the Day by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: blog.kexp.org
Did you know that Lead Belly was a New Yorker who performed in NYC:s top jazz spots, had a radio show on WNYC, and liked to play for children in his neighborhood park?: www.wsj.com
"Pick a Bale" was classified as a work song, but it was often used frequently during slave times as a dance tune or reel.: historywired.si.edu
This song was written by Shel Silverstein and tells the touching story of a father who protects his son by forcing him to defend himself early.
"If you're goin' to Winnemucca, Mack, with me you can ride." Here's the geographically explicit lyrics: www.azlyrics.com
"Detroit City" was written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis and was made famous by, among others, Bobby Bare and Tom Jones.
This song, about jaded rock stars complaining about not making the cover, was written by Shel Silverstein and recorded by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: en.wikipedia.org
Speaking of Rolling Stone, here's the magazine's reader's poll of the ten best Pixies songs: www.rollingstone.com
The great songwriter Kris Kristofferson has said that he wants the opening lines of this song to be his epitaph. Read more about this powerful song: americansongwriter.com
There's lots of discussion on the Leonard Cohen forum about the meaning of this song: www.leonardcohenforum.com
More than 30 years before he recorded it with Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash performed this version of Rod McKuen's "Love's Been Good To Me" on his television show in 1970: www.youtube.com
Read a biography of Frank Sinatra here: www.biography.com
This is a cover of a Dean Martin song, written for the movie "The Seven Hills of Rome," and originally sung by Mario Lanza.
The song was adopted as the unofficial anthem for Hungarian refugees scattered around the world after the 1956 revolution against Soviet rule.: www.songfacts.com
This song by Del Lyon and Lani McIntire was recorded by Jimmie Rodgers in 1930 and made famous by Bing Crosby in 1937: lyricsplayground.com
Read an Allmusic biography of "Der Bingel": www.allmusic.com
This is Tom Petty harmonizing with Johnny Cash on Tom's song: www.rollingstone.com
Tom Petty's old band The Mudcrutchs will amke appearances at American festivals this year: kwbe.com