How Muhammad Ali Inspired a Bootleg Johnny Cash Recording

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was friends with all four of the Highwaymen: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. Also, he wasn’t friends with them as a group; he was friends with them individually. There are a lot of instances that prove this to be true, including Ali showing up at the christening of Waylon Jennings’ son, Shooter, and gifting Willie Nelson a pair of boxing gloves. Also, regarding his friendship with Ali, Kris Kristofferson stated, “He was a beautiful human being and a really sweet man, and all his life he was doing beautiful things for people,” per Rock Cellar.

Videos by American Songwriter

While Ali was friends with all of these legendary outlaw country musicians, the only person who was inspired to write a song in light of his relationship with Ali was Johnny Cash. As the story goes, when Johnny Cash and Muhammad Ali first met, reportedly at one of Ali’s boxing matches in New Orleans, the boxer gave him a poem simply titled, “Truth”. Years after receiving it, Johnny Cash never divulged the contents of the poem and valued it so much that he actually kept it locked away in a vault.

However, years after Muhammad Ali gave the poem to Cash, the “Man In Black” singer decided to turn the poem into a song. He titled the song the same simple name, “Truth”.

Johnny Cash’s Bootleg Recording of Muhammad Ali’s Poem

It is unclear when exactly Cash recorded the song. However, “Truth” was not formally released until 2012, nine years after Johnny Cash’s death. The bootleg single of the Ali poem resides on the album Johnny Cash: Bootleg Vol. IV: The Soul Of Truth.

According to Saving Country Music, Johnny Cash likely recorded this song in January or May of 1979. Johnny Cash allegedly died believing that Muhammad Ali wrote this poem for him. Though upon further research conducted for the album by producer Gregg Geller, that was not the case. As a matter of fact, Muhammad Ali didn’t actually write this poem at all. Rather, the Indian professor named Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote the poem. Hazrat Inayat Khan was also a musician, poet, as well as a major figure in the spreading of the Sufism religion to the West.

Regardless of the original author, this very well might be the most storied bootleg recording in Johnny Cash’s expansive catalog.

Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images