In Memory of Johnny Cash
Today marks the 5th anniversary of Johnny Cash’s passing. He was 71, and had only three months prior, suffered the loss of his wife, June Carter Cash. Despite being sick since 1997 with Autonomic Neuropathy, the Man in Black continued to perform until just two months before his death.
American IV: The Man Comes Around is the fourth album in Johnny Cash’s American series. Most songs are covers which Cash performs in his own simple style. The Eagles’ “Desperado,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” The Beatles’ “In My Life,” Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” are included on this album. American IV: The Man Comes Around was the first of Cash’s albums to go gold in thirty years, and the last album he released during his lifetime.
The most popular song from this collection is Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” The video for “Hurt” was nominated in seven categories at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and won for Best Cinematography. The video also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video in 2004. This video is now known as Johnny Cash’s epitaph, since he expressed his view of his past and feelings of regret in this rendition.
Watch some of the videos from American IV below.
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
And here are some of his classics:
The Man in Black
The Man in Black
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, for the sick and lonely old.
I wear the black in mournin’ for the lives that could have been, for the thousands who have died believin’ that the Lord was on their side. I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died believin’ that we all were on their side.
Well, there’s things that never will be right I know, and things need changin’ everywhere you go. But ’til we start to make a move to make a few things right, you’ll never see me wear a suit of white.
Much of Johnny Cash’s music, like Man in Black quoted above, had a somber tone and echoed themes of sorrow, distress, and redemption. His signature songs include I Walk The Line, Folsom Prison Blues, and Ring of Fire. Some of his more light-hearted tunes include A Boy Named Sue and One Piece at a Time. Many of Cash’s songs had the rhythm of the railroad: Big River, Train of Love, and Orange Blossom Special are among them.
From his early days as a pioneer of rockability and rock and roll, along side Elvis Presley, in the 50s to his decades as a country music star and becoming a legend in his time, Cash has been a constant musical influence throughout the years. He left a body of work matched only by the greatest artists of his time who are still alive today. He sold over fifty million albums and composed over a thousand songs n his fifty-year career.
By the early 1970s, he had set his public image as “The Man in Black.” He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat. This outfit was a great contrast to the cowboy boots and rhinestones of the major country stars of his day. In 1971, Cash wrote Man in Black to help explain his decision to do so throughout most of his career.
Johnny Cash performances:
Jackson (with June Carter Cash)
It Ain’t Me Babe (with June Carter Cash)
Recommendations:
- Any Best Of compilation will be an introduction to those who aren’t familiar with Johnny Cash and include several of the songs mentioned above.
- The American series has Cash covering more modern tunes: Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus, Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt, and Moby’s God’s Gonna Cut you Down are among them.
- Unearthed, a box set was issued posthumously, and it included four CDs of unreleased material, as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD.
For the celebrity-drenched video, click here God’s Gonna Cut You Down.
To tune in to Johnny Cash Radio, go to http://www.johnnycash.com
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