“Jackson”
by Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash
from the album The Essential Johnny Cash
1967
Buy the album on Amazon

I can’t remember how or why Lance and I first did this as a duet. I feel like maybe our group was having a Johnny Cash-off/medley, but I’m not sure. Also, this had to have been sometime just after the movie Walk the Line came out, because I admittedly didn’t know a thing about Johnny Cash or really know his music until the movie Walk the Line. Up to that point, the only reference point I had for him was that one of the characters in Swingers had a father who was a big fan.

Let’s be clear. This is to most people an abomination, but man, do we have fun singing it. It’s not an every time pick like Undone, and isn’t usually on our must do list, but it happens quite frequently that we’ll be having some drinks, it will be nearing the end of the night, we’re feeling pretty spent on our usuals, the place has started getting crowded so we’re starting to feel it’s time to go, and then one of us remembers Jackson. To those of you wondering, Lance plays Johnny, which yes, means I play June, and I am perfectly ok with that (even if it is an insult to her). Actually, I usually overcompensate for not being a female singer by way overbelting it, but whatever. Every time I listen to the actual song, I hear little nuances and think “oh, I should add that emphasis” or “I should remember that background humming”, but of course I never do. Once my cousin was in town and we did it as a duet, and I finally got to sing the male verses and she was a hell of a lot better at the female verses than I ever am, but hey, Lance and I make do.

Oh, and to make this slightly more relevant to MNP in particular, here’s a version of INXS doing the song. Not sure how much I like this cover, but still – Michael Hutchence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzuAPc2v424