When hearing the lyrics, “I fell into a burnin' ring of fire. I went down, down, down and the flames went higher,” it is hard not to hear the trumpet melody famously associated with them. However, Johnny Cash’s famous mariachi style of the Ring of Fire is not the only version. Social Distortion and Home Free have also preformed this notorious song. Johnny Cash released the song in 1963, Social Distortion in 1990, and Home Free in 2014. Although each group sings the same lyrics of the Ring of Fire, they each symbolize the changing attitudes of their time; Johnny Cash shows the tense changing times of the 60’s, Social Distortion shows the confusing tense time of the 90’s, and Home Free shows the optimistic views of recent years. As a result …show more content…
This time, instead of replicating Cash’s performance, the band changed several elements to make it their own. Jumping around on stage with his guitar, bandleader Mike Ness shows off his tattoos in a tank top, and tight jeans. Cash’s trumpets are also changed to electric guitars, and the bass drum is more prominent. Social Distortion replaced the rebellious character of Johnny Cash with their angry rocker persona. Their version of the Ring of Fire seems angrier, and harsher than Johnny Cash’s. They released their song in 1990, during hard times in America. The Cold War had just ended, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was about to be passed, and the AIDS epidemic was killing more and more with each passing day. Male gender roles were starting to be questioned, and drug abuse was increasing. It was a difficult and confusing time for America. After years of wars, and discrimination within the country, many felt like the problems weren’t going away, but instead just adding to each other. Like the lyrics of Ring of Fire, the country was like “[it] fell into a burning ring of fire, [and] went down, down, down and the flames went higher.” Social Distortion’s angry rock version of the Ring of Fire shows America’s frustrating feelings of the time. With problems stacking up, and no relief in sight, people wanted answers, but didn’t know who to yell their anger at, so they …show more content…
Instead of playing instruments, the focus is on the voices of the group. Using acapella, Home Free sings the same song as Johnny Cash, and Social Distortion, but instead of anger or defiance being behind the meaning of the song, Home Free sings as a tribute to remember the past. 2014 was the release of their version. America, and the rest of the world was still having tragedies, and arguments, but instead of fighting each other, most decided to work together to solve worldwide problems. Countries around the world joined the United Nations to try to solve global issues peacefully instead of going to war. Like Home Free’s acapella, the counties of the world understand that individually, each country sounds excellent, but the voices work even better when they are put together. Even though numerous countries have come together, all of them still remember the past. Not too long ago, the world was at war with itself. Recent world leaders agree that mistakes were made in the past, but now they join together to stop the past from repeating itself. Home Free symbolizes the union of the world as they all circle together around a fire. They all have different parts of the song, different pitches, yet they gathered to create a beautiful song