This week on StoryWeb: June Carter and Johnny Cash's song "Ring of Fire."

For the bride and groom

"Ring of Fire" – written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore and recorded by Johnny Cash – is no ordinary love song. For it tells not only of the sweetness of new love but even more so the all-consuming, burning nature of a deeply passionate love.

According to the most widely accepted account of the song's composition, June Carter came across a phrase in a book of Elizabethan poetry that had belonged to her uncle, the famed A.P. Carter. He had underlined the words "Love is like a burning ring of fire." June suggested to songwriter Merle Kilgore that they write a song based on those words. June said, "There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns."

Apparently, June Carter knew what she was talking about. In 1962, when she wrote the song with Kilgore, she was touring with Johnny Cash for the first time, and theirs was a burning new love indeed. Kilgore was also on that tour, and Rolling Stone reports that whenever they were on tour together, June Carter and Merle Kilgore would often write songs together.

The first person to record the song was June's sister Anita Carter, but it failed to hit big on the charts. Johnny Cash claimed that, after hearing Anita's version, he had a dream with the mariachi-style horns added to the song. Recorded in March 1963 and released the following month, Cash's version features Mother Maybelle and the Carter sisters singing harmony. The song remains the most recognizable and most enduring of Johnny Cash's many hits.

Perhaps Cash's daughter Rosanne put it best when 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."

Learn more about Johnny Cash in his books Man in Black and Cash: The Autobiography. The fine film, Walk the Line, is also well worth your time. John Carter Cash's book, Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash, is a wonderful tribute to his mother. Beth Harrington's book, The Winding Stream: An Oral History of the Carter and Cash Family, provides key insights into this influential musical family.

To my friends who are celebrating their wedding today, may the transformative power of love be with you in the years to come.

Visit thestoryweb.com/cartercash for links to all these resources and to watch Johnny Cash perform "Ring of Fire."