10 Greatest Musician Cameos On The Simpsons
1. Johnny Cash
For the most part, The Simpsons casts musicians to play themselves, or otherwise characters heavily based on their public or artistic personae. For country music icon Johnny Cash, the show went in a slightly different direction, with the legendary singer instead playing a mysterious space coyote who acts as Homer’s spirit guide.
It sounds complex, but it’s really not: “El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer” sees Homer eat several impossibly spicy chilis after coating his mouth with wax. This sends him on a spirit quest, whereupon the Cash-voiced Coyote encourages Homer to seek out his soulmate.
It’s a beautifully animated episode, perhaps the best looking in Simpsons history. Homer’s spiritual quest is proper arthouse stuff, and it’s granted even more pathos by the sonorous tones of Cash. The singer is utilised perfectly here; while he was by no means a humourless man, it would be unlikely that asking him to crack wise would generate the best results.
As such, he brings his unique presence to the soundstage and manages to make a hallucinated coyote somehow dignified and wise. There are only so many men who could pull that one off.