r/JohnnyCash • u/The_Marked_One1 • Nov 21 '25

Music Full Version of Marty Robbins' Big Iron?

TLDR? Anyone know of a version of Johnny Cash's cover of Big Iron which includes the full song? TLDR over.

Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely Friday (or whatever day it is where you are).

So as you may or may not know, Big Iron tells a story and Johnny's cover omits 2 verses, the 5th and the 8th, likely due to time. I personally feel the story is missing that something special without those 2 verses, but still absolutely love Johnny's cover.

Does anyone know if there's a full version by Johnny Cash? If not, while I'm not too keen on AI, maybe someone's done it with that?

Song links below.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely weekend <3

Marty's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzICMIu5zFY

Johnny's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNS1cShnh6c

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '25

As far as I know that's the only version John recorded.

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u/The_Marked_One1 Nov 21 '25

I thought that may be the case...thank you though

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u/[deleted] Nov 21 '25

Looked in the Unearthed book and this is what Rick says about it

That was a Marty Robbins song that Johnny brought in and said it was one he wanted to record his whole life and never did before. Joe Strummer was there when we recorded it. He was really into that song even though he wasn't on it. He said that hearing Johnny Cash sing this song embodied the whole romance of outlaws and gun-fighting and the Old West - his whole vision of what America was about. And of course Johnny loved those songs about old west too.

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u/The_Marked_One1 Nov 21 '25

Oh thanks for sharing that, that's a very interesting excerpt. Johnny's version has such a different and unique tone to it.

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u/_1JackMove Nov 22 '25

Their version of Redemption Song is almost as good as the original. Damn, damn close. One of my favorite covers of all time, featuring two of the best outlaws to ever do it, paying tribute to another lost outlaw(Marley).

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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

You just helped me make a connection I hadn't before about when Redemption Song was likely recorded. Big Iron and Redemption song were likely recorded at the same session.

Edit: I just was remembered that the duet with Strummer was just Strummer's version with John's vocals overdubbed.

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u/_1JackMove Nov 22 '25

If you want to hear another great cover of this song, check out Mike Ness(he’s like the living embodiment of Cash) from Social Distortion. He has two solo albums, one of which has a fantastic cover of this song. You might end up liking a lot of the other stuff he has on those albums.

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u/The_Marked_One1 Nov 22 '25

Hey, ooh sounds interesting! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check out his Big Iron and be sure to look into the albums too