Johnny Cash Said Bob Dylan’s Songwriting Was a ‘Challenge’ for Him

Johnny Cash was one of Bob Dylan’s earliest supporters. He became a fan of the younger artist from the moment he heard him, and he went out of his way to support Dylan in his career. They performed together, and Cash covered several of Dylan’s songs. Cash said that whenever he listened to the other artist, he felt slightly jealous. He wished he could translate his thoughts into lyrics as Dylan did.

Johnny Cash wished he could write songs like Bob Dylan

When Cash met Dylan, he felt mutual admiration. Dylan had long been a fan of his work, and Cash used to listen to his albums before and after shows.

“He’s a very quiet, kind person who loves his wife and children very much,” Cash said, per the book Cash on Cash: Interviews and Encounters With Johnny Cash. “We’re in different worlds — he’s a few years younger than I am and from Minnesota, and to him, Johnny Cash was always somebody from the South who sang those country songs. I think he has a great respect for my work and I certainly have a great respect for his, but it’s not like we can’t wait to get together to sit down and write a song.”

They did write the song “Wanted Man” together, but Cash said Dylan was more of an inspiration for him. Whenever he heard his music, he felt driven to do better.

“What I get from him is the same thing I get from all great songwriters: inspiration,” he said. “It’s like, I’ll hear something they’ve written and think, ‘Why couldn’t I write that — that’s the way I think, too.’ Maybe it’s more like a challenge than an inspiration, because after I’ve sat around with guys like Dylan or Kris Kristofferson and they’ve gone, I’ll think, ‘Yeah, that’s a good song he wrote, but maybe I can do better.’ And at that point I’ll start writing.”

What Bob Dylan songs did Johnny Cash cover?

Cash admired Dylan’s writing enough to cover several of his songs. Most famously, the pair collaborated on “Girl From the North Country,” but Cash covered several others. He sang a version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” with his wife, June Carter Cash, and also covered that, “It Ain’t Me Babe,” and “Mama, You’ve Been on My Mind” on his 1965 album Orange Blossom Special. 

This is a wealth of Dylan covers from Cash, but we wish he’d done a couple more. In his songs, Dylan is a storyteller. He deals in myths and epics; Cash’s rich and textured voice is the perfect fit for his lyrics. After Cash’s death, Dylan told Rolling Stone he had a “voice from the middle of the earth.”

In the covers that exist, Cash added a level of bouncing joviality and warmth. He was capable of mournful beauty, though, and Dylan’s songs would have welcomed this. A Cash cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” would be enough to bring someone to tears. 

Johnny Cash shared why he thought it was important to talk to songwriters

Cash said Dylan’s talent inspired him to write. He felt this way with many songwriters, so he capitalized on it and hosted songwriter parties. 

“I have the songwriters’ parties at my house, which is every three or four months or so,” he said. “We’ll sit in the living room and pass the guitar around, and anybody there who sings and writes knows they’re going to have to come up with something. That sure motivates me to write, because I know I’ll be in the hot seat sometime during the night, so I’ve got to have a song good enough to compete with what these other people will present. It’s really a thing we all look forward to, and sometimes those nights have been memorable.”