Johnny Cash – I’ve Been Everywhere

Happy 4th of July and a belated Canada Day. 

I don’t think any performer is as popular and liked across generations and genres as Johnny Cash. I’ve met hard rock, country, and blues fans who love him. He was an American Icon. This man had been everywhere, and he had the stories to back it up. 

The song originated in Australia in 1959, written by Geoff Mack, which name-checked towns like Mooloolaba and Wollongong. Lucky Starr popularized it in Australia at the time. Hank Snow gave it an American twist in the early ‘60s, with a rapid-fire list of U.S. towns delivered at a gallop, sounding like he was being chased by a state trooper and an angry tour promoter at the same time.

Hank Snow made this song popular in 1962 by taking it to #1 on the Billboard Country chart and #68 on the Billboard 100. Johnny covered this song in 1996, and it’s the version I remember. Cash had a way of making a song his own. He released it in 1996 but had been doing it for years live. 

The genius of it, though, is that despite the fast pace, it never feels like a gimmick in his hands. There’s that world-weary baritone voice, like a man unrolling a crumpled map that’s been folded a thousand times. The song becomes not just about where he’s been, but what he’s seen, motels, hotels, and empty stages. He’s been everywhere, but not always by choice.

The song was on the album American II: Unchained produced by Rick Rubin. The album peaked at #26 on the Billboard Country Album Charts and #170 on the Billboard 200 in 1996.

I hope everyone living in the U.S.  has a happy, safe Fourth of July! I know I will!

I’ve Been Everywhere
I was totin’ my pack along the dusty Winnemucca road,
When along came a semi with a high and canvas-covered load.
“If you’re goin’ to Winnemucca, Mack, with me you can ride.”
And so I climbed into the cab and then I settled down inside.
He asked me if I’d seen a road with so much dust and sand.
And I said, “Listen, I’ve traveled every road in this here land!”

I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been to
Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,
Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,
Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,
Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma,
Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo,
Tocopilla, Barranquilla, and Padilla, I’m a killer.

I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been to
Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana,
Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana,
Monterey, Faraday, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa,
Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa,
Tennessee to Hennessey, Chicopee, Spirit Lake,
Grand Lake, Devil’s Lake, Crater Lake, for Pete’s sake.

I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been to
Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika,
Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica,
Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport,
Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport,
Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina,
Pasadena, Catalina, see what I mean-a.

I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been to
Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Gravelbourg, Colorado,
Ellensburg, Rexburg, Vicksburg, El Dorado,
Larimore, Admore, Haverstraw, Chatanika,
Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelika,
Baraboo, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, Kansas City,
Sioux City, Cedar City, Dodge City, what a pity.

I’ve been everywhere, man.
I’ve been everywhere, man.
Crossed the desert’s bare, man.
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.
Of travel I’ve a-had my share, man.
I’ve been everywhere.

I’ve been everywhere.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

49 thoughts on “Johnny Cash – I’ve Been Everywhere”

      3. You’re welcome. And how about the 25 minutes to go song? I never heard of it until Eddie Vedder did a cover of it. Then I think Johnny also did it on the Live at Folsom Prison album? Can’t remember now…

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  2. I missed the Aussie one, I need to go back & listen to that!
    I listened to ‘The Wanderer’ a few days ago and thought, A) next to Pavarotti that was the weirdest collaboration U2 did, and B) it worked! Though it might be the perfect song to flip on if you have a few stubborn party-goers who won’t leave, LOL

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    1. LOL… I had to listen to the Wanderer again…it’s been a while.
      One thing I found out when writing this…I didn’t know Hank Snow was Canadian or I forgot…. He was born in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1914

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  6. Pingback: Johnny Cash – I’ve Been Everywhere – MobsterTiger

  7. This is one fun list song. Love this, Max:
    “Hank Snow gave it an American twist in the early ‘60s, with a rapid-fire list of U.S. towns delivered at a gallop, sounding like he was being chased by a state trooper and an angry tour promoter at the same time.” I only knew a name before I watched the Elvis movie and learned Snow’s place in musical history.

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  8. Of course I really like what Johnny did with the song and seems true to the Snow lyrics. It was the Hank Snow version I grew up with and I think he did a brilliant job adding the names he did. Didn’t know it was a cover for the longest time. Interesting he has a fair number of Canadian cities and some countries in there as well. Hank’s name came up in my recent Buddy Holly post on Turntable Talk as well. Takes a Canadian to give a song an American flavour… so your opening of Happy 4th of July and a belated Canada Day is perfect. Have a great holiday Max.

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    1. Maybe you are the one I found out that Hank Snow was a Canadian! Thank you Randy! I ran into a Canadian couple at the Willie and Bob concert I went to…we talked for a good 45 minutes…great couple.

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  9. Had heard the Snow version a time or two, I think. I have the Cash CD, but haven’t listened to it in quite a while. Australian version is rapid-fire indeed. I’m not much of a traveler, so I can only marvel at it.

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    1. Yea….that is a fast version. Anything in Cash’s hands usually turns out good…. yea me either but I would like to be.

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  10. so yeah, Hank Snow for me was where I first heard…..Cash had an amazing list of interesting takes on songs….Neil Young’s Pocahontas is a personal fave….these road songs are always interesting, sort of like the Promised Land..

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    1. Yes they are…I like those fast naming songs like this. I also like The End of the World as we Know It because of that.

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  12. Makes the Beach Boys name checking in ‘Surfing USA’ look like a stroll downtown.

    Naturally we had a New Zealand version in the 60s, I think maaaaybe Howard Morrison????

    In the Aussie one I like the truckee trying to get a word in edgewise, and in the end dumping the motor mouth in the middle of nowhere, or Hell knows where. Humour and a geography lesson in one song.

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      1. Yes, that is a nice Route to take. About 15 years back we did a bit of the Route 66 tour around Arizona and California, places like Oatman, etc. Stopped a night in Kingman. At the now defunct Hotel Brunswick. Oh, there’s a sad tale to be told over that stay too!

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    2. He spares no syllables.
      I meant to put that in obbverse I apologize…he changed some more words I believe.
      It is a geography lesson for sure.

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  13. That song was instant love when I first heard it by Johnny Cash during a TV commercial for a hotel chain in the early 2000s. I continue to be amazed how Cash could rattle off the names of so many different places in machine gun fire fashion. I grabbed the lyrics and tried myself – and miserably failed time after time! 🤣

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