Before His Death in 2003, Johnny Cash Was Supposed To Be Featured on This Coldplay Track

While Coldplay and Chris Martin’s music certainly toils in the genre of alternative pop, a large portion of their influence resides in the fields of folk and rock ‘n’ roll. Martin and the band have outwardly expressed their affinity for acts such as Bob Dylan, U2, The Beatles, and R.E.M.. In addition to those artists, Coldplay also held Johnny Cash in an incredibly high regard. Matter of fact, Coldplay nearly released a collaborative single with Johnny Cash. Although and unfortunately, Johnny Cash passed away before he was able to record the vocals for it.

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Chris Martin and Coldplay are masterful musicians. Nonetheless, it is fairly surprising that they wrote a song for Johnny Cash to collaborate on. Not surprising in the sense that they couldn’t figure it out musically, but surprising in the sense that Cash’s work touched Coldplay so intensely that they felt the need to write a song for him. However, as stated previously, Cash never got the chance to finish recording the song, as he passed away a week before the final touches were supposed to be added to the song.

Coldplay’s Song Just Needed Cash’s Final Touch

While the revolving piece surrounding the inception of the song was in fact Johnny Cash, Coldplay wrote the song as a collaborative single between the two parties. That being so, Coldplay actually recorded the song with Rick Rubin, the acclaimed producer who helped create Johnny Cash’s final albums, such as American IV: The Man Comes Around and American V: A Hundred Highways.

Concerning the collaboration, Martin stated, “We recorded it with Rick Rubin and everything and all that was missing was his vocals. He was going to fly out to LA the week after he died. It’s really sad,” per NME. Johnny Cash passed away on September 12, 2003. That being so, Coldplay sat on this song for roughly two years until they released it. As they finally released the song titled “Til Kingdom Come” on their 2005 album, X&Y.

Given that Cash passed away before being able to complete the track, the song now exists as an homage to the man who introduced country music to the masses. Furthermore, it is seemingly a testament to just how connective and far-reaching Johnny Cash’s music was and still truly is, as his music was able to touch the lives of four lads from London.

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