Calling Him by His Name

Over on Mark Evanier's Facebook page, there's an amusing little exchange about an imagined writing of a movie theme song.  Mark wrote to...well, someone --

"One of your blog posts referred to Johnny Cash possibly writing a theme for the movie THUNDERBALL, and how it was probably about 007 riding trains, drinking coffee, and being in prison. It was not. It was about 007 riding trains, driving pickup trucks, being in the rain, thinking about his mama, being in prison, and gettin' drunk."

This got somebody to quip back, "You don't have to call me Sean Connery anymore...and you don't have to call me Roger Moore..."

Let's give credit where credit is due. And name names.  Those two postings are an homage to the song, "You Never Even Call Me By My Name," written by the great Steve Goodman and John Prine. But beyond giving credit, oddly enough Johnny Cash was a big fan of Steve Goodman's and actually had the opportunity to record his "City of New Orleans" before Arlo Guthrie, but (to Cash's everlasting regret) passed. He did record it later. And in fact, here's a treat -- Johnny Cash introducing Steve Goodman singing The Song at a big, televised benefit.