History YMMV / JohnnyCash

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with "Tennessee Flat Top Box". Cash's version went to #11 in the sixties, and his daughter, Rosanne, took a cover to #1 in 1988. Rosanne honestly didn't know that her father wrote the song at the time she recorded it. Not only did it become one of her signature songs, she performed it during a concert TV special paying tribute to her father after he died.

* AdaptationDisplacement: [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] recounts the feeling at hearing Cash's rendition of "Hurt" as being like losing a girlfriend, since the song now belongs to Johnny Cash.

* QuestionableCasting: Can lead to {{Narm}} or NarmCharm for the more generously inclined. His ''Gospel Road'' BibleTimes film can come off as this due to the apparently last-minute casting of the director as what some have joked as the blondest Jesus ever filmed. In recent decades, Biblical movies tend to try and have the actors "look right" for the time and place i.e. "darker" in hair and skin, looking more Middle Eastern or at least not just "white bread", and so to modern eyes this can undermine the sincere effort up to the location shooting in Israel itself.

* {{Narm}}: Can be NarmCharm for the more generously inclined, but his ''Gospel Road'' BibleTimes film can come off as this due to the apparently last-minute casting of the director as what some have joked as the blondest Jesus ever filmed. In recent decades, Biblical movies tend to try and have the actors "look right" for the time and place i.e. "darker" in hair and skin, loooking more Middle Eastern or at least not just "white bread", and so to modern eyes this can undermine the sincere effort up to the location shooting in Israel itself.

* MagnificentBastard: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gbtm-93oqE A Boy Named Sue]]", from ''At San Quentin'': [[DisappearedDad The father]] is a {{Gunslinger}} who abandoned his family after his son's birth, but not before giving his son the embarrassing name "[[EmbarrassingFirstName Sue]]". Wanting Sue to grow up strong and smart in a rough world by beating up people who made fun of his name, along with having no father figure to look up to throughout most of his life and when finally encountered by an enraged Sue decades later, the father puts up a good, brutal fight. When Sue draws his gun on him, the father smiles, knowing he's made his son tough, even [[DefeatMeansFriendship reconciling with his boy afterwards]].

* AdaptationDisplacement: [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] recounts the feeling at hearing Cash's rendition of Hurt as being like losing a girlfriend, since the song now belongs to Johnny Cash.

** "25 Minutes to Go", which puts the listener in the shoes of someone counting down the minute before their execution.

** "A Boy Named Sue" as well, and "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is on the fringe of being one.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Folsom Prison Blues" is largely a rewrite of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_City_Blues "Crescent City Blues"]] by pop composer/bandleader Gordon Jenkins, changing the musical style and lyrical context. Cash reportedly wanted to give Jenkins a credit on the original 1956 release but Sun Records owner Sam Phillips told him not to worry about a lawsuit. Jenkins found out much later and did in fact sue, but it got settled out of court.

* ArchivePanic: 54 studio albums, plus thirteen collaborative albums, eleven gospel albums, nine live albums, four Christmas albums, two soundtrack albums and dozens of guest appearances on other songs. Want to take the easy way out and get a GreatestHits album? There are 104. Go on, pick one.

* SignatureSong: Arguably it's "I Walk the Line," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Ring of Fire," or "Hurt."

** "Cocaine Blues" is a case of [[CoveredUp Covering Up]] a CoveredUp song. The original was recorded in 1947 by W.A. Nichols' Rhythm Aces, then [[AwesomeMcCoolName Roy Hogsed]] had a [[CountryMusic country]] hit with it one year later.

** During the 1969-1971 run of ''The Johnny Cash Show'' on TV, Cash performed duets with many of his guests. Perhaps one of the most unexpected was his linking up with Music/TonyJoeWhite to perform a surprisingly good version of White's original version of "Polk Salad Annie" (a song that is more closely associated with 1970s-era Elvis Presley).

* DorkAge: 1971–94, the period between the end of ''The Johnny Cash Show'' and ''American Recordings''. Cash ''did'' release some grade A material during this period, but between various religious pursuits on one hand, and occasional relapses into substance abuse on the other, he wasn't always focused on music and the quality of his recordings became more erratic.
** "Chicken in Black"... ''what was he thinking?''
*** "Chicken in Black" isn't as bad as "Allegheny", a 1972 recording where June Carter Cash does her best Music/YokoOno impression, or the entirety of the 1975 album ''John R. Cash'' in which Cash was forced to abandon his traditional style and his usual musicians for an overproduced urban-country album backed by members of Elvis' Las Vegas band. At least on "Chicken in Black" Cash sounds like he's having fun, and a live recording exists on Website/YouTube indicating audiences enjoyed the self-spoof as well. And to be honest, it's no less ridiculous than "A Boy Named Sue" or "One Piece at a Time", both comedy songs that were major hits for Cash.

*** Actually, "Chicken in Black" isn't as bad as "Allegheny", a 1972 recording where June Carter Cash does her best Music/YokoOno impression, or the entirety of the 1975 album ''John R. Cash'' in which Cash was forced to abandon his traditional style and his usual musicians for an overproduced urban-country album backed by members of Elvis' Las Vegas band. At least on "Chicken in Black" Cash sounds like he's having fun, and a live recording exists on Website/YouTube indicating audiences enjoyed the self-spoof as well. And to be honest, it's no less ridiculous than "A Boy Named Sue" or "One Piece at a Time", both comedy songs that were major hits for Cash.

* MagnificentBastard: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gbtm-93oqE A Boy Named Sue]]", from ''At San Quentin'': [[DisappearedDad The father]] is a {{Gunslinger}} who abandoned his family after his son's birth, but not before giving his son the embarrassing name "[[EmbarrassingName Sue]]". Wanting Sue to grow up strong and smart in a rough world by beating up people who made fun of his name, along with having no father figure to look up to throughout most of his life and when finally encountered by an enraged Sue decades later, the father puts up a good, brutal fight. When Sue draws his gun on him, the father smiles, knowing he's made his son tough, even [[DefeatMeansFriendship reconciling with his boy afterwards]].