Hear Johnny Cash's "Ain't No Grave" From "American VI"

"There ain't no grave/Can hold my body down," Johnny Cash sings on the title track of his final album, the sixth in his American Recordings series with Rick Rubin. The disc, American VI: Ain't No Grave, will arrive on February 26th, what would have been Cash's 78th birthday. As Rolling Stone reported, Scott and Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers play on the LP, along with Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, Smokey Hormel, Matt Sweeney and Jonny Polonsky. Producer Rubin explained the album was completed while Cash was in poor health, in between trips to the hospital and during the time Cash was mourning the loss of his beloved wife, June Carter Cash. But despite the hardships, Cash was defiant. "He didn't really have fear and he already was dealing with pain," Rubin said. "I think he had acceptance. When he knew he was going to die, he was calm and matter of fact about it, and ... that was it."

Rubin took Rolling Stone through American VI track by track in our next issue, on stands February 17th. Pick up a copy then for the full story, and hear "Ain't No Grave" here now:

American VI: Ain't No Grave Track List:
1. "Ain't No Grave" (traditional)
2. "Redemption Day" (Sheryl Crow)
3. "For The Good Times" (Kris Kristofferson)
4. "I Corinthians 15:55" (Johnny Cash)
5. "Where I'm Bound" (Tom Paxton)
6. "Satisfied Mind" (J.H. Red hayes, Jack Rhodes)
7. "It Don't Hurt Anymore" (Don Robertson and Jack Rollins)
8. "Cool Water" (Bob Nolan)
9. "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" (Ed McCurdy)
10. "Aloha Oe" (Queen Lili'uokalani)

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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