Johnny Cash, Cash: The Autobiography

Since this is a biography I think I can comment on what I know about Cash, which is actually very little, but it is direct.

In 1971 or so I was a book editor in Menlo Park, California. I was putting together a literature anthology for junior and senior high schools. We were trying to make the material relevant by choosing current and sometimes controversial people, which could include entertainers, with subject matter, which was also current, and maybe controversial as well.

I found a song lyric by Cash which met my criteria and wrote him to get his permission to use it. I got a letter back from a Ms. Reba Hancock, if I remember the name right, who was his office manager, asking to see a copy of one of the books in the series (some had already been published), which I sent.

I soon received permission from Ms. Hancock to use the material without charge, and I did use it.

That is almost the entire story, except for a detail--I listened to Cash singing the song that I had chosen to publish. I noticed he changed the lyrics from the written version when he sang the song--he would spontaneously change the lyrics, only slightly, to suit himself, at different performances.