Random Amazing True Stories About Johnny Cash's Crazy Life (18 items)

(#1) Cash Witnessed His Brother's Final Moments

Johnny Cash’s life was one of extremes from the very beginning. He was incredibly close with his older brother, Jack, and when Cash was 12 years old, he watched Jack fall victim to a table saw. Johnny felt an enormous amount of guilt over the incident, and it probably had more than a little to do with his reckless adult behavior.
(#11) He Had Exclusively Rocky Marriages

Johnny Cash eventually settled down with the love of his life, June Carter Cash, but even that wasn’t an entirely happy story, as they broke up and reconciled several times.

His first marriage to Vivian Liberto (who he met at 17) was incredibly rocky and ended in a bitter divorce that left both sides hurt. Between the two marriages, Cash had five children in total.
(#13) Cash Wrote 'Chicken In Black' To Upset Record Execs

Out of all the amazing songs in Johnny Cash’s discography, "Chicken In Black" is a bit of an outlier, though, there’s a good reason for it. Cash was annoyed with his record label, so he set out to make a song so terrible they would let him out of his contract.

He even recorded a music video for it, which featured him in a powder-blue cape and yellow jumpsuit. The song was about a singer’s brain being put into a chicken, because why not? Cash’s plan worked, and he was let out of his contract.
(#3) He Dug His Brother's Grave As A Child

After losing his older brother Jack at 12 years old, Cash was asked to help dig his brother’s grave and bury him. It's actually pretty astounding he didn't go on to invent death metal.

This might have been viewed as a character-building activity for the young Cash, but it also undoubtedly left some serious emotional scars. Most 12-year-olds build tree forts.
(#5) He Was Once Nearly Killed By An Ostrich

After nearly wiping out an entire species of bird (by himself), it was only natural that the birds look for their opportunity to strike back. They got it in 1981. Johnny Cash raised ostriches on his property, and he sometimes policed their behavior with the time-honored tradition of beating them with a stick.

As many know, ostriches are basically modern-day velociraptors, and one of his ostriches responded to the stick-whacking by kicking Cash with its massive, clawed foot. This opened up Cash’s belly and nearly ended him, forcing him to hold his own insides in as he raced to the hospital.
(#17) Cash Survived A 12-Day Coma

When you live life at the speed that Johnny Cash did, you have to be pretty tough to survive. Although Cash lived to the ripe old age of 71, he almost didn’t make it there at all. In 1993, when he was 61, Cash was dreadfully ill. This was in part due to complications with his diabetes, and he went into a 12-day coma that doctors feared he would never wake up from.

Of course, Johnny Cash wasn’t one to just lay around and wait to die, so he just sort of woke up and got back to recording music. He was ultimately diagnosed with autonomic neuropathy, something he would suffer through for the remaining ten years of his life.