Johnny Cash’s soon-to-be-second-wife June Carter wrote “Ring of Fire” in 1963 with Merle Kilgore to express the experience of falling in love with the married Man in Black. Cash would continue to walk the line with his first wife, Vivian Liberto, until 1966. June Carter finally became June Carter Cash in 1968.

After being originally recorded by June’s sister Anita Carter as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire”, the song was recorded by Cash on March 25, 1963. It became the biggest hit of his career, staying at number one on the charts for seven weeks. It was certified Gold on January 21, 2010 by the R.I.A.A. and has also sold over 1.2 million digital downloads.

In 2002, shortly before his death, Cash sang another cover, “Hurt”; the perfect bookend to “Ring of Fire”. In it Cash acknowledges his failures as a husband and friend. If “Ring of Fire” was the first warning sign of an obsessive-compulsive personality, “Hurt” is the final apology.