Johnny Cash → Jeff Lynne

Johnny Cash wrote "Folsom Prison Blues" and cut it himself. Which of these artists later made his own recording of it?Bob Dylanlearned

Johnny Cash

Folsom Prison Blues · 1955 · via Johnny Cash

Cash wrote it and had it on record with the Tennessee Two in 1955, and in 2001 Bob Dylan took his own turn at it. Play them back to back and listen for what survives the trip.

Before Johnny Cash ever sang "A Boy Named Sue," who wrote it and cut the first recording of it himself?Shel Silversteinknew

Shel Silverstein

A Boy Named Sue · 1969 · via Johnny Cash

Shel Silverstein wrote it and put it on record himself in 1969, so this is the song in its writer's own voice. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs picked it up that same year, which tells you it didn't stay his for long.

Johnny Cash made "Jackson" a duet staple, but it wasn't his song first. Which of its two writers made the first recording of it?Billy Edd Wheelerlearned

Billy Edd Wheeler

Jackson · 1963 · via Johnny Cash

Billy Edd Wheeler wrote "Jackson" with Jerry Leiber and cut it himself before Cash, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, or Jerry Lee Lewis ever got to it. Hear the writer's own take, then the hand-me-downs make more sense.

Johnny Cash recorded Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down," but Petty didn't write it alone. Who shares the writing credit with him?Jeff Lynneknew

Tom Petty

I Won’t Back Down · 1989 · via Johnny Cash

Petty cut it first in 1989 and Cash took it on in 2000, but the credit has a second name on it, Jeff Lynne. Pull his records next and listen for how much of that song was his.