Johnny Cash's "Understand Your Man" (influenced by "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right")

To celebrate what would have been The Man in Black's 79th birthday today, I uploaded several Johnny Cash clips to YouTube -- this one being Johnny Cash's "variant" of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (a song Johnny performed at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival).


"Understand Your Man" was first recorded by Johnny Cash during the November 12, 1963 sessions at Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, TN, with Luther Perkins, lead guitar, Norman Blake, guitar, Robert L. "Bob" Johnson, guitar, Marshall Grant, bass, W. S. Holland, drums, William K. "Bill" McElhiney & Karl R. Garvin, trumpets, whereas "Don't Think Twice" was first recorded by Vanguard as part of Johnny's set at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival (July 26, 1964) and subsequently released both by Vanguard and Bear Family Records.

A studio recording of "Don't Think Twice" from a December 18, 1964 recording session was released on "Orange Blossom Special" (1965), along with Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" and "Mama, You Been On My Mind".

Both "Understand Your Man" and "Don't Think Twice" were attempted/recorded (possibly as a medley) during Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan's joint 1969 Nashville sessions, but remain unreleased.

"Understand Your Man" (a song he had not performed "for 25 years") was the last song performed during Johnny Cash's last (documented) performance at the Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, VA, on July 15, 2003 and preserved on an amateur video recording (recorded with the artist's permission):



Lyrics © 1964 by Southwind Music Inc., New York, NY

Don't call my name out your window, I'm leavin',
I won't even turn my head;
Don't send your kinfolks to give me no talkin',
I'll be gone like I said.
You'd say the same old things that you been saying all along,
Lay there in your bed, keep your mouth shut till I'm gone.
Don't give me that old familiar cryin', cussin' moan,
Understand your man.
SPOKEN: Tidy your bad mouth
And understand your man. 

You can give my other suits to the Salvation Army,
And ev'rything else I leave behind;
I ain't takin' nothin' that'll slow down my trav'lin'
While I'm untanglin' my mind.
I ain't gonna repeat what I said anymore
While I'm breathin' air that ain't been breathed before.
I'll be as gone as a wild goose in winter,
Then you'll understand your man.
SPOKEN: Meditate on it,
Understand your man
SPOKEN: You hear me talkin', honey,
Understand your man
SPOKEN: Remember what I told you,
Understand your man.

Any copyrighted items are included here for "nonprofit educational purposes" (one of the criteria of "fair use", Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107) only.