Apparently an advertising agency wanted to use Johnny Cash's song "Ring of Fire" in a television commercial...for hemorrhoid medication! Yes I use the American rather than European spelling! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3498749.stm Cash family blocks haemorrhoid ad The family of late singer Johnny Cash has blocked an attempt by advertisers to use his hit song Ring of Fire to promote haemorrhoid-relief products. The idea had been backed by Merle Kilgore, who co-wrote the song with Cash's wife, June Carter Cash. Cash's daughter Rosanne said the family "would never allow the song to be demeaned like that". Cash and his wife died in 2003. Kilgore said he had not intended to upset the family. He said at first he thought the idea was funny, and he had often joked about haemorrhoids onstage whenever he would introduce Ring of Fire. But Rosanne Cash told the Nashville-based Tennessean newspaper he had not consulted the family. Condition She said: "The song is about the transformative power of love and that's what it has always meant to me and that's what it will always mean to the Cash children." TV producer Sula Miller, of Big Grin Productions in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said she had thought of the idea while suffering from the condition. Johnny Cash, a legend of US country music, died in September aged 71 after complications from diabetes which resulted in respiratory failure. His rebellious songs and outlaw image have influenced generations of rock artists, from Bob Dylan to U2.
After reading the thread title I thought this was going to be about that commercial that is on the Weather channel every morning. "I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere..."
"I sat down on a burnin' ring of fire... I stood up, up, up... while the pain went higher... and it burns, burns, burns... that ring of fire, that ring of fire."
I'd have to agree that's a pretty disrespectful use of the song... it cheapens it. (Though it is a pretty funny joke, if you don't actually put it on the airwaves.)
Who owns the rights to the Carter family's music? It was June Carter who wrote the song, whoever owns the rights to her catalogue had to give the thumbs-up for this ad.
