Prior to Chris Cornell’s sudden passing last May, the Soundgarden vocalist contributed to a collection of Johnny Cash’s unrecorded poetry, lyrics, and letters. The recording was for a collaborative album entitled Johnny Cash: Forever Words, which will be released on April 6th via Legacy Recordings. Today (26th), Cornell’s recording to Cash’s “You Never Knew My Mind” premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show, which is also the first posthumous track from the late singer.
Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, co-produced this project and he shared his explanation to the song “You Never Knew My Mind,” to Zane Lowe stating:
“Through the years, there were things that [Johnny] wrote that he set aside. There were songs that he had lyrics for — maybe he had music, maybe [he] didn’t — that he never recorded. There were also things that he wrote. He wrote ‘You Never Knew My Mind’ in 1967. I assume and I’m fairly certain it was written for his first wife, Vivian. That was the year that their divorce was legal. It was also the year where his love for my mother flourished. So ‘You Never Knew My Mind’ was not something that he would have released at that time because my mother was standing beside him.”
Later, he revealed how he asked Cornell to contribute to the song:
“I reached out to Chris Cornell, and I said, ‘Would you like to be a part of this?’ He was very excited. Chris told me that he loved my dad. He also had felt everything that was in those words. He had been there. He had gone through the loss of relationships.”
Listen to the song below:
Tracklist:
1) “Forever/I Still Miss Someone” – Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson
2) “To June This Morning” – Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves
3) “Gold All Over The Ground” – Brad Paisley
4) “You Never Knew My Mind” – Chris Cornell
5) “The Captain’s Daughter” – Alison Krauss and Union Station
6) “Jellico Coal Man” – T. Bone Burnett
7) “The Walking Wounded” – Rosanne Cash
8) “Them Double Blues” – John Mellencamp
9) “Body On Body” – Jewel
10) “I’ll Still Love You” – Elvis Costello
11) “June’s Sundown” – Carlene Carter
12) “He Bore It All” – Daily and Vincent
13) “Chinky Pin Hill” – I’m With Her
14) “Goin’, Goin’, Gone” – Robert Glasper featuring Ro James, and Anu Sun
15) “What Would I Dreamer Do?” – The Jayhawks
16) “Spirit Rider” – Jamey Johnson
