Man of Truth

The Obit

Johnny Cash was as down-home as they come.    Born in a shack in Arkansas to a family of farmers and living most of his life in the vicinity of Nashville, he sang about venerable country subjects like trains, work, cowboys, jail, temptations, guitars and God.   But what made him an American icon were the ways he was like no country singer before or since.   Long before M.B.A.'s began advising pop acts about branding, Mr. Cash set out to make himself a symbol.

His wardrobe as the Man in Black -- for perpetual mourning and perpetual sympathy with humanity's suffering -- was just the most visible sign of a deep and consistent gravity.    He started his career as a rockabilly singer in Memphis, where country reaffirmed its connection to the blues, and in the hundreds of songs he recorded, he was never far away from an awareness of tragedy and death.    Of course he was an entertainer, too; he even had his own television variety show.

 He was no stranger to the Nashville system that has long turned out professional, increasingly homogenized country hits.    But while good country singers have been content within that system, the great ones have defied it, and Mr. Cash, who died yesterday in Nashville at 71, was among the mavericks.    His allies through the years have included Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kris Kristofferson and U2.    Eventually he found old country values in places most country singers never thought to look. 

 Older American rural music spoke directly of hard times and mortality.    Songs about romance and honky-tonking were always around, but they were the Saturday-night respite from rugged lives.

 Mr. Cash's music didn't flaunt its rural roots; he never allied himself with bluegrass revivals, new traditionalism or any other overt throwbacks.    His trademark arrangements, with his steady-picked guitar and the marchlike beat of his longtime backup group, the Tennessee Two, were more like sobered-up rockabilly than anything else.   But the songs he chose throughout his career stayed close to the hardscrabble perspective of the music he grew up hearing. 

When he selected a three-CD compilation of his own songs in 2000, it was called ''Love God Murder'' (Sony), with one topic per disc.

In his long career, Mr. Cash wasn't always downhearted.    Among his biggest pop hits were  ''A Boy Named Sue,''  which neatly played against his long catalog of songs about manly exploits, and ''Jackson,''  a cheerfully bickering duet with his future wife, June Carter.    

But in recent decades, country music has traded confrontations with the abyss for mild flirtations and clever wordplay.   And when country got cute, Mr. Cash turned his back on it.    He had always had rockers among his fans.    They saw in Mr. Cash a fellow outsider and, in his later years, a connection to the defiant spirit of early rock 'n' roll.    They respected the unsentimental bluntness of songs like  ''I Walk the Line''  and the terse narratives of songs like ''Folsom Prison Blues,''  in which he plays a murderer. 

Many of his songs contemplated the darkest, most violent human impulses with realism and remorse, and in them the struggle against sin was never an easy one.   He sought relief in gospel songs and patriotic songs, which spelled out the moral code that his characters found so difficult to keep.     In his last decade, on a string of albums that began with  ''American Recordings''  in 1994, Mr. Cash found songs he wanted to sing among the bleakest rock. 

The country mainstream had long ignored him; he once said that he had been  ''purged''  from Nashville.   But on those final albums, he completed his self-invention as a rock-ribbed avatar of tragedy.

 Genre mattered less to Mr. Cash than ever.   He sang alone with an acoustic guitar, like a porch side picker, and he sang backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (on ''Unchained'' in 1996, which won a Grammy award as Best Country Album).    His voice, deeper and more scarred than ever, brought an adult's sorrow to the grunge defiance of Soundgarden's  ''Rusty Cage''  and to the bitterness of Nine Inch Nails'  ''Hurt.''  

The last face Mr. Cash showed the public was the creased, gray, weary close-up in the video clip for  ''Hurt.''    It was the face of a man who knew he was mortally ill, with all vanity gone.    In the liner notes to  ''Unchained,''  Mr. Cash wrote:  ''I love songs about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love.  And Mother.  And God.''   Mr. Cash knew himself well, and he did not flinch.

As any fan of the man will attest, Johnny Cash was brutally honest, both in his songwriting and the way he lived his life. This fact is easy to see in this handwritten note that was auctioned off over the weekend by Julien's of Beverly Hills for a cool $6,400.

Cash scrawls a to-do list for the day: not smoke, kiss June, not kiss 
anyone else, cough, pee, eat, not eat too much, worry, go see Mama, and practice piano. Under the "Notes" section, the Man In Black slyly adds "not write notes." There's no date given, but these are all pretty timeless things to do.


The Wake

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 15— Johnny Cash, country music's Man in Black, was laid to rest in a jet-black coffin today, exactly four months after the death of his wife, June Carter Cash. 

In a two-hour private ceremony that was closed to the general public and television cameras at Mr. Cash's own church, the First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, preachers, country stars, family members and former Vice President Al Gore paid tribute to Mr. 
Cash's music and legacy in word and song.

A public memorial service is planned for sometime later this week. Mr. Cash, who died on Friday in Nashville at 71, was depicted today as a man of genius but also of many contradictions, of unending compassion and of tremendous Christian faith.

''Johnny Cash was the champion of the voiceless, the underdogs and the downtrodden.   He was also something of a holy terror, like Abraham Lincoln with a wild side,''  said the singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson.    ''He represented the best of America.''

At one point the microphone Mr. Kristofferson was speaking in cut out and then fed back.     ''Johnny, I know that was you,''   Mr. Kristofferson said with a grin, pointing to the heavens.

''I wasn't Johnny Cash's closest friend, but I can speak for millions he made feel like he was their closest friend,''   Mr. Gore said.   ''At long last, he is far from Folsom Prison, where he wants to stay.''

The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, at whose revival meetings Mr. Cash and his wife often performed, was unable to attend because he was in the Mayo Clinic, but he sent a message that was read by his son, Dr. Franklin Graham.

''Johnny was a legend.   He was also a good man who struggled.   He was also a deeply religious man,''  the elder Dr. Graham's message said.    ''I look forward to seeing Johnny and June in heaven one day.''

A video tribute included Mr. Cash's duets with Bob Dylan in Nashville, and even a hilarious television clip of him introducing Elton John while wearing bizarre glasses and a feathered outfit that Mr. John might have worn himself.    At several points during the service, the congregation applauded and laughed.

Mr. Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow and Emmylou Harris all performed songs for the several hundred invited guests, which included family, music industry colleagues and reporters.   Willie Nelson was one of the honorary pallbearers.

''Johnny Cash was the most dynamic person I've ever met,''  said his longtime manager, Lou Robin.    Mr. Cash's daughter Rosanne said,  ''He was the stuff of dreams.''

There Was a Time

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Johnny Cash knows that dignity makes the icon.   Through a recording career that stretches back to 1955, his bass-baritone voice has gone from gravelly to grave;  his demeanor has grown ever more somber and humble.    But even in the 1950's, he was perfectly believable singing a line like  "I taught the weeping willow how to cry."    At Carnegie Hall on Wednesday night, he sang with stoic calm about death, loneliness, love and Christian faith.

Mr. Cash has grown increasingly distant from the country-music business, which likes its singers young, optimistic and aw-shucks sexy.    Mr. Cash's songs don't provide the cozy consolation of most country hits;  they are more likely to tell stories of hardship and irrevocable loss.    In  "Oh Bury Me Not,"  the narrator recites a prayer that he will live up to the virtues of the wide-open country. The music then segues into the old song in which a dying young cowboy begs not to be buried on  "the lone prairie,"  but he is buried there anyway.

In Mr. Cash's repertory, characters face unforgiving elements and 
indifferent fate;  their faith and virtue will not necessarily be rewarded in this world.    Even love songs, like  "I Walk the Line" and  "Ring of Fire,"  are about the dangers of temptation and the singer's stubborn resolve in fighting it off.


Mr. Cash is closer, now, to rock tastes for unflinching lyrics and 
stripped-down music.   This year, he changed recording companies and released  "American Recordings"  (American), backing himself on an acoustic guitar.   At Carnegie Hall, he performed alone and with the Tennessee Three, one of the leanest bands anywhere.

The Tennessee Three hark back to the rockabilly groups that backed Mr. Cash's first singles, with a few decades of subtlety added.   While Dave Rorick slapped a bass fiddle, each of Bob Wootton's electric-guitar lines was pared down to essentials.   W. S. Holland's drumming sounded like hoofbeats during   "Ghost Riders in the Sky,"  a military tattoo in  "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"  and a steam locomotive in  "Orange Blossom Special,"  in which Mr. Cash needed two harmonicas to play three chords.

Alone or with the band, Mr. Cash gave his songs an austere directness.   He ignored the hoots and whoops that punctuated his songs at odd moments, maintaining a conversational directness and a courtly reserve.   Mr. Cash never revealed the control behind his steely but unforced delivery;  only an occasional dive into his deepest register showed that his tone is a matter of choice.   By never overacting, Mr. Cash gives the impression that the song 
is speaking for itself;  his determined simplicity honored songs like 
Leonard Cohen's  "Bird on a Wire,"  Kris Kristofferson's  "Sunday Morning Coming Down"  and his own  "Redemption,"  a stark meditation on the blood of Jesus.

The concert also included cameo appearances by Mr. Cash's daughter, Roseanne Cash, and his wife, June Carter.    His daughter was self-effacing;  his wife was extroverted, full of raspy inflections, hip swinging and arm flinging as they sang duets.   Her antics set off his formality, making him seem like a loner even within his family.

That Dog, a quartet from Los Angeles, opened the concert with quiet, self-absorbed songs.    The group's three women harmonized prettily on dorm-room reveries, most of which were too wispy for a concert hall.

American Recordings

"You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way."

Johnny Cash

After Columbia Records dropped Cash from his recording contract, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991.

In 1991, Cash sang lead vocals on a cover version of "Man in Black" for the Christian punk band One Bad Pig's album I Scream Sunday.

His career was rejuvenated in the 1990s, leading to popularity among a younger audience not traditionally interested in country music. In 1993, he sang the vocal on U2's "The Wanderer" for their album Zooropa. Although he was no longer sought after by major labels, Cash was approached by producer Rick Rubin and offered a contract with Rubin's American Recordings label, better known for rap and hard rock.

Under Rubin's supervision, he recorded the album American Recordings (1994) in his living room, accompanied only by his guitar. That guitar was a Martin dreadnought guitar - one of many Cash played throughout his career. The album featured several covers of contemporary artists selected by Rubin and had much critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash wrote that his reception at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was one of the highlights of his career. This was the beginning of a decade of music industry accolades and surprising commercial success.

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Cash and his wife appeared on a number of episodes of the popular television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman starring Jane Seymour. The actress thought so highly of Cash that she later named one of her twin sons after him. He lent his voice for a cartoon cameo in an episode of The Simpsons, with his voice as that of a coyote that guides Homer on a spiritual quest. In 1996, Cash released a sequel to American Recordings, Unchained, and enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which won a Grammy for Best Country Album. Cash, believing he did not explain enough of himself in his 1975 autobiography Man in Black, wrote another autobiography in 1997 entitled Cash: The Autobiography.

In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy-Drager syndrome. The diagnosis was later altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes. This illness forced Cash to curtail his touring. He was hospitalized in 1998 with severe pneumonia, which damaged his lungs. The albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002) contained Cash's response to his illness in the form of songs of a slightly more somber tone than the first two American albums. The video that was released for "Hurt", a cover of the song by Nine Inch Nails, fit Cash's view of his past and feelings of regret. The video for the song, from American IV, is now generally recognized as "his epitaph," and received particular critical and popular acclaim.

June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of seventy-three. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record and even performed a couple of surprise shows at the Carter Family Fold outside Bristol, Virginia. At the July 5, 2003 concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

“ The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has. ”

Cash died less than four months after his wife, on September 12, 2003, while hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

His stepdaughter, Rosie (Nix) Adams and another passenger were found dead on a bus in Montgomery County, Tennessee, on October 24, 2003. It was speculated that the deaths may have been caused by carbon monoxide from the lanterns in the bus. Adams was 45 when she died. She was buried in the Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Tennessee, near her mother and stepfather.

On May 24, 2005, Vivian Liberto, Cash's first wife and the mother of Rosanne Cash and three other daughters, died from surgery to remove lung cancer. It was Rosanne's fiftieth birthday.

In June 2005, his lakeside home on Caudill Drive in Hendersonville was put up for sale by his estate. In January 2006, the house was sold to Bee Gees vocalist Barry Gibb and wife Linda and titled in their Florida limited liability company for $2.3 million. The listing agent was Cash's younger brother, Tommy Cash. The home was destroyed by fire on April 10, 2007.

One of Cash's final collaborations with producer Rick Rubin, entitled American V: A Hundred Highways, was released posthumously on July 4, 2006. The album debuted in the #1 position on Billboard's Top 200 album chart for the week ending July 22, 2006.

From his early days as a pioneer of rockabilly and rock and roll in the 1950s, to his decades as an international representative of country music, to his resurgence to fame in the 1990s as a living legend and an alternative country icon, Cash influenced countless artists and left a large body of work. Upon his death, Cash was revered by the greatest popular musicians of his time. His rebellious image and often anti-authoritarian stance influenced the punk rock movement.

Among Cash's children, his daughter Rosanne Cash (by first wife Vivian Liberto) and his son John Carter Cash (by June Carter Cash) are notable country-music musicians in their own right.

Cash nurtured and defended artists on the fringes of what was acceptable in country music even while serving as the country music establishment's most visible symbol. At an all-star TNT concert in 1999, a diverse group of artists paid him tribute, including Bob Dylan, Chris Isaak, Wyclef Jean, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and U2. Cash himself appeared at the end and performed for the first time in more than a year. Two tribute albums were released shortly before his death; Kindred Spirits contains works from established artists, while Dressed in Black contains works from many lesser-known artists.

In total, he wrote over 1,000 songs and released dozens of albums. A box set titled Unearthed was issued posthumously. It included four CDs of unreleased material recorded with Rubin as well as a Best of Cash on American retrospective CD.

In recognition of his lifelong support of SOS Children's Villages, his family invited friends and fans to donate to that charity in his memory. He had a personal link with the SOS village in Diessen, at the Ammersee Lake in Southern Germany, near where he was stationed as a GI, and also with the SOS village in Barrett Town, by Montego Bay, near his holiday home in Jamaica. The Johnny Cash Memorial Fund was founded.

In 1999, Cash received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Cash #31 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In a tribute to Cash after his death, country music singer Gary Allan included the song "Nickajack Cave (Johnny Cash's Redemption)" on his 2005 album entitled Tough All Over. The song chronicles Cash hitting rock bottom and subsequently resurrecting his life and career.

The main street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Highway 31E, is known as "Johnny Cash Parkway".

The Johnny Cash Museum is located in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

On November 2–4, 2007, the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival was held in Starkville, Mississippi. Starkville, where Cash was arrested over 40 years earlier and held overnight at the city jail on May 11, 1965, inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail". The festival, where he was offered a symbolic posthumous pardon, honored Cash's life and music, and was expected to become an annual event.

In 1998, country singer Mark Collie portrayed Cash for the first time in a short film, I Still Miss Someone. Shot mostly in black and white, it attempts to capture a moment in time for Cash during his darkest years, the mid 1960s.

Walk the Line, an Academy Award-winning biopic about Cash's life starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as June (for which she won the 2005 Best Actress Oscar), was released in the United States on November 18, 2005 to considerable commercial success and critical acclaim. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon have won various other awards for their roles, including the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, respectively. They both performed their own vocals in the film, and Phoenix learned to play guitar for his role as Cash. Phoenix received the Grammy Award for his contributions to the soundtrack. John Carter Cash, the only child of Johnny and June, served as an executive producer on the film.



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Highwaymen

"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes,

but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space."

Johnny Cash

In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age forty-eight, but during the 1980s his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts, although he continued to tour successfully. In the mid 1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen, making two hit albums.

During this period, Cash appeared in a number of television films. In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy. In the same year, Cash appeared as a "very special guest star" in an episode of the Muppet Show. In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis. Cash had tried for years to make the film, for which he won acclaim.

Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983 caused by an unusual incident in which he was kicked and wounded by an ostrich he kept on his farm.

At a hospital visit in 1988, this time to watch over Waylon Jennings (who was recovering from a heart attack), Jennings suggested that Cash have himself checked into the hospital for his own heart condition. Doctors recommended preventive heart surgery, and Cash underwent double bypass surgery in the same hospital. Both recovered, although Cash refused to use any prescription painkillers, fearing a relapse into dependency. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near death experience". He said he had visions of Heaven that were so beautiful that he was angry when he woke up alive.

Cash's recording career and his general relationship with the Nashville establishment were at an all-time low in the 1980s. He realized that his record label of nearly 30 years, Columbia, was growing indifferent to him and wasn't properly marketing him (he was "invisible" during that time, as he said in his autobiography). Cash recorded an intentionally awful song to protest, a self-parody. "Chicken in Black" was about Cash's brain being transplanted into a chicken. Ironically, the song turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. Nevertheless, he was hoping to kill the relationship with the label before they did, and it was not long
after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways.

In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55. This was not the first time he had teamed up with Lewis and Perkins at Sun Studios. On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips to pay a social visit while Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, almost half of which were gospel songs, survived and have been released on CD under the title Million Dollar Quartet. Tracks also include Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", Pat Boone's "Don't Forbid Me", and Elvis doing an impersonation of Jackie Wilson (who was then with Billy Ward and the Dominoes) singing "Don't Be Cruel".

In 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul. He also recorded Johnny Cash Reads The Complete New Testament in 1990.
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Folsom Prison Blues and The Man In Black

"When I record somebody else's song, I have to make it my own or it doesn't feel right. I'll say to myself, I wrote this and he doesn't know it!"

Johnny Cash

Cash felt great compassion for prisoners. He began performing concerts at various prisons starting in the late 1960s. These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).

Folsom Prison Blues (lyrics)
I hear the train a comin 'It's rolling round the bend
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when,
I'm stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin' on
But that train keeps a rollin' on down to San Antone..
When I was just a baby my mama told me. Son,
Always be a good boy, don't ever play with guns.
But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry..
I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car
They're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars.
Well I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free
But those people keep a movin'And that's what tortures me...
Well if they freed me from this prison,If that railroad train was mine
I bet I'd move it on a little farther down the line
Far from Folsom prison, that's where I want to stay
And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.....

The Folsom Prison record was introduced by a rendition of his classic "Folsom Prison Blues", while the San Quentin record included the crossover hit single "A Boy Named Sue", a Shel Silverstein-penned novelty song that reached No. 1 on the country charts and No. 2 on the U.S. Top Ten pop charts. The AM versions of the latter contained a couple of profanities which were edited out. The modern CD versions are unedited and uncensored and thus also longer than the original vinyl albums, though they still retain the audience reaction overdubs of the originals.

In addition to his performances at U.S. prisons, Cash also performed at the Österåker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The live album På Österåker ("At Österåker") was released in 1973. Between the songs, Cash can be heard speaking Swedish, which was greatly appreciated by the inmates.

From 1969 to 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network. The Statler Brothers opened up for him in every episode; the Carter Family and rockabilly legend Carl Perkins were also part of the regular show entourage. However, Cash also enjoyed booking more contemporary performers as guests; such notables included Neil Young, Louis Armstrong, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (who appeared a record four times on his show), James Taylor, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton (then leading Derek and the Dominos), and Bob Dylan.

Cash had met with Dylan in the mid 1960s and became closer friends when they were neighbors in the late 1960s in Woodstock, New York. Cash was enthusiastic about reintroducing the reclusive Dylan to his audience. Cash sang a duet with Dylan on Dylan's country album Nashville Skyline and also wrote the album's Grammy-winning liner notes.

Another artist who received a major career boost from The Johnny Cash Show was songwriter Kris Kristofferson, who was beginning to make a name for himself as a singer/songwriter. During a live performance of Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash refused to change the lyrics to suit network executives, singing the song with its references to marijuana intact: "On a Sunday morning sidewalk / I'm wishin', Lord, that I was stoned."

"Sunday Morning Coming Down"
Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
Then I washed my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.
I'd smoked my mind the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been picking.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playing with a can that he was kicking.
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone frying chicken.
And Lord, it took me back to something that I'd lost
Somewhere, somehow along the way.
On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl that he was swinging.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singing.
Then I headed down the street,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing,
And it echoed through the canyon
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.
On a Sunday morning sidewalk,
I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
That makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothing short a' dying
That's half as lonesome as the sound
Of the sleeping city sidewalk
And Sunday morning coming down.

By the early 1970s, he had crystallized his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long black knee-length coat. This outfit stood in contrast to the costumes worn by most of the major country acts in his day: rhinestone suit and cowboy boots. In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black", to help explain his dress code: "We're doing mighty fine I do suppose/In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes/But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back/Up front there ought to be a man in black."

Man In Black (lyrics)
Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.
I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.
Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.
I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.
And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' 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.
Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

He and his band had initially worn black shirts because that was the only matching color they had among their various outfits. He wore other colors on stage early in his career, but he claimed to like wearing black both on and off stage. He stated that, political reasons aside, he simply liked black as his on-stage color. To this day, the United States Navy's winter blue service uniform is referred to by sailors as "Johnny Cashes," as the uniform's shirt, tie, and trousers are solid black.

In the mid 1970s, Cash's popularity and number of hit songs began to decline, but his autobiography (the first of two), titled Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies. A second, Cash: The Autobiography, appeared in 1997. His friendship with Billy Graham led to the production of a film about the life of Jesus, The Gospel Road, which Cash co-wrote and narrated. The decade saw his religious conviction deepening, and he made many evangelical appearances on Graham Crusade platforms around the world.

He also continued to appear on television, hosting an annual Christmas special on CBS throughout the 1970s. Later television appearances included a role in an episode of Columbo. He also appeared with his wife on an episode of Little House on the Prairie entitled "The Collection" and gave a performance as John Brown in the 1985 American Civil War television mini-series North and South.

He was friendly with every United States President starting with Richard Nixon. He was closest with Jimmy Carter, who became a very close friend. He stated that he found all of them personally charming, noting that this was probably essential to getting oneself elected.

When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1972, President Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a satirical Merle Haggard song about people who despised youthful drug users and war protesters) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song that derides the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash declined to play either and instead selected other songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about a brave Native-American World War II veteran who was mistreated upon his return to Arizona), and his own compositions, "What is Truth?" and "Man in Black". Cash claimed that the reasons for denying Nixon's song choices were not knowing them and having fairly short notice to rehearse them, rather than any political reason.
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The Outlaw and Friends

"That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station."

Johnny Cash

As his career was taking off in the early 1960s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. For a brief time, he shared an apartment in Nashville with Waylon Jennings, who was heavily addicted to amphetamines. Cash used the uppers to stay awake during tours. Friends joked about his "nervousness" and erratic behavior, many ignoring the warning signs of his worsening drug addiction. In a behind-the-scenes look at The Johnny Cash Show, Cash claims to have "tried every drug there was to try."

Although in many ways spiraling out of control, Cash's frenetic creativity was still delivering hits. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country charts and entering the Top 20 on the pop charts. The song was written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore. The song was originally performed by Carter's sister, but the signature mariachi-style horn arrangement was provided by Cash, who said that it had come to him in a dream.

In June 1965, his truck caught fire due to an overheated wheel bearing, triggering a forest fire that burned several hundred acres in Los Padres National Forest in California. When the judge asked Cash why he did it, Cash said, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it." The fire destroyed 508 acres (2.06 km2), burning the foliage off three mountains and killing 49 of the refuge's 53 endangered condors. Cash was unrepentant: "I don't care about your damn yellow buzzards." The federal government sued him and was awarded $125,172 ($845,341 in current dollar terms). Cash eventually settled the case and paid $82,001. He said he was the only person ever sued by the government for starting a forest fire.

Although Cash carefully cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, each stay lasted only a single night. His most infamous run-in with the law occurred while on tour in 1965, when he was arrested by a narcotics squad in El Paso, Texas. The officers suspected that he was smuggling heroin from Mexico, but it was prescription narcotics and amphetamines that the singer had hidden inside his guitar case. Because they were prescription drugs rather than illegal narcotics, he received a suspended sentence.

Cash was also arrested on May 11, 1965, in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing late at night onto private property to pick flowers. (This incident gave the spark for the song "Starkville City Jail", which he spoke about on his live At San Quentin prison album.)

Starkville City Jail (lyrics)
Well, I left my motel room, down at the Starkville Motel,
The town had gone to sleep and I was feelin' fairly well.
I strolled along the sidewalk 'neath the sweet magnolia trees;
I was whistlin', pickin' flowers, swayin' in the southern breeze.
I found myself surrounded; one policeman said: "That's him.
Come along, wild flower child. Don't you know that it's two a.m."
They're bound to get you. 'Cause they got a curfew.
And you go to the Starkville City jail.
Well, they threw me in the car and started driving into town;
I said: "What the hell did I do?" He said: "Shut up and sit down."
Well, they emptied out my pockets, took my pills and guitar picks.
I said: "Wait, my name is..." "Awe shut up." Well, I sure was in a fix.
The sergeant put me in a cell, then he went home for the night;
I said: "Come back here, you so and so; I ain't bein' treated right."
Well, they're bound to get you, cause they got a curfew,
And you go to the Starkville City Jail.
I started pacin' back and forth, and now and then I'd yell,
And kick my forty dollar shoes against the steel floor of my cell.
I'd walk awhile and kick awhile, and all night nobody came.
Then I sadly remembered that they didn't even take my name.
At 8 a.m. they let me out. I said: "Gimme them things of mine!
"They gave me a sneer and a guitar pick, and a yellow dandelion.
They're bound to get you, 'cause they got a curfew,
And you go to the Starkville City Jail.

In the mid 1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums, including Ballads Of the True West (1965), an experimental double record mixing authentic frontier songs with Cash's spoken narration, and Bitter Tears (1964), with songs highlighting the plight of the Native Americans. His drug addiction was at its worst at this point, and his destructive behavior led to a divorce from his first wife and canceled performances.

In 1967, Cash's duet with Carter, "Jackson", won a Grammy Award.

Cash quit using drugs in 1968, after a spiritual epiphany in the Nickajack Cave, when he attempted to commit suicide while under the heavy influence of drugs. He descended deeper into the cave, trying to lose himself and "just die", when he passed out on the floor. He reported to be exhausted and feeling at the end of his rope when he felt God's presence in his heart and managed to struggle out of the cave (despite the exhaustion) by following a faint light and slight breeze. To him, it was his own rebirth. June, Maybelle, and Ezra Carter moved into Cash's mansion for a month to help him conquer his addiction. Cash proposed onstage to June at a concert at the London Gardens in London, Ontario, Canada on February 22, 1968; the couple married a week later (on March 1) in Franklin, Kentucky. June had agreed to marry Cash after he had 'cleaned up'. Rediscovering his Christian faith, taking an "altar call" in Evangel Temple, a small church in the Nashville area, pastored by Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snow, son of country music legend Hank Snow. Cash chose this church over many larger celebrity churches in the Nashville area because he said that there he was treated like just another parishioner and not a celebrity.
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Love, Vivian Liberto and June Carter

"Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight."

Johnny Cash

"Success is having to worry about every damn thing in the world, except money."

Johnny Cash

On July 18, 1951, while in Air Force training, Cash met 17 year-old Vivian Liberto (April 23, 1934, San Antonio, Texas—May 24, 2005, Ventura, California) at a roller skating rink in her native San Antonio. They dated for three weeks, until Cash was deployed to Germany for a three year tour. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of pages of love letters.

On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married at St. Anne's Catholic church in San Antonio. The ceremony was performed by her uncle, Father Vincent Liberto. They had four daughters: Rosanne (born May 24, 1955), Kathy (born April 16, 1956), Cindy (born July 29, 1958) and Tara (born August 24, 1961). Cash's drug and alcohol abuse, constant touring, and affairs with other women (including future wife June Carter) led Liberto to file for divorce in 1966.

In 1968, 12 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June Carter, an established country singer, during a live performance in London, Ontario, marrying on March 1, 1968 in Franklin, Kentucky. He had proposed numerous times, but she had always refused. They had one child together, John Carter Cash (born March 3, 1970).

They continued to work together and tour for 35 years, until June Carter died in 2003. Cash died just four months later. Carter co-wrote one of his biggest hits, "Ring of Fire," and they won two Grammy awards for their duets.

"Ring Of Fire"
Love is a burning thing and it makes a firery ring
bound by wild desire I fell in to a ring of fire...
I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.
The taste of love is sweet when hearts like our's meet
I fell for you like a child oh, but the fire went wild..
I fell in to a burning ring of fire
I went down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

Vivian Liberto claims a different version of the origins of "Ring of Fire" in I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, stating that Cash gave Carter the credit for monetary reasons.

In 1954, Cash and Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract.

After auditioning for Sam Phillips, singing mostly gospel songs, Phillips told him that gospel was unmarketable. It was once rumored that Phillips told Cash to "go home and sin, then come back with a song I can sell," though Cash refuted that Phillips made any such comment in a 2002 interview. Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early frenetic style. His first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry Cry Cry", were released in 1955 and met with reasonable success on the country hit parade.

Cry, Cry, Cry (lyrics)
Everybody knows where you go when the sun goes down.
I think you only live to see the lights of town.
I wasted my time when I would try, try, try.
When the lights have lost their glow, you're gonna cry, cry, cry.
I lie awake at night and wait 'til you come in.
You stay a little while and then you're gone again.
Every question that I ask, I get a lie, lie, lie.
For every lie you tell, you're gonna cry, cry, cry.
You're gonna cry, cry, cry and you'll cry alone,
When everyone's forgotten and you're left on your own.
You're gonna cry, cry, cry.
Soon your sugar-daddies will all be gone.
You'll wake up some cold day and find you're alone.
You'll call to me but I'm gonna tell you: "Bye, bye, bye,
"When I turn around and walk away, you'll cry, cry, cry,
When your fickle little love gets old, no one will care for you.
You'll come back to me for a little love that's true.
I'll tell you no and you gonna ask me why, why, why?
When I remind you of all of this, you'll cry, cry, cry.
You're gonna cry, cry, cry and you'll want me there,
It'll hurt when you think of the fool you've been.
You're gonna cry, cry, cry.

Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country Top 5, and "I Walk the Line" became No. 1 on the country charts and entered the pop charts Top 20. Following "I Walk the Line" was "Home of the Blues", recorded in July 1957. That same year Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album. Although he was Sun's most consistently best-selling and prolific artist at that time, Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label. Elvis Presley had already left Sun, and Phillips was focusing most of his attention and promotion on Jerry Lee Lewis. The following year Cash left the label to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records, where his single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits.

Don't Take Your Guns To Town (lyrics)
A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked out
Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town
He laughed and kissed his mom And said your Billy Joe's a man
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn't shoot without a causeI'd gun nobody down
But she cried again as he rode away
Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town
He sang a song as on he rode His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle townA smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a barAnd laid his money down
But his mother's words echoed again
Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town
He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mothers words
Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town
Filled with rage thenBilly Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired Before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floorThe crowd all gathered 'round
And wondered at his final words
Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

In the early 1960s, Cash toured with the Carter Family, which by this time regularly included Mother Maybelle's daughters, Anita, June and Helen. June, whom Cash would eventually marry, later recalled admiring him from afar during these tours.

He also acted in a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live, later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac.

Heritage and Early Life

"I start a lot more songs than I finish, because I realize when I get into them, they're no good. I don't throw them away, I just put them away, store them, get them out of sight."

Johnny Cash

Cash was of Scottish royal descent but he learned this only upon researching his ancestry. After a chance meeting with former Falkland laird, Major Michael Crichton-Stuart, he traced the Cash family tree to 11th century Fife, Scotland. Scotland's Cash Loch bears the name of his family.

He had believed in his younger days that he was mainly Irish and partially Native American. Even after learning he was not Native American, Cash's empathy and compassion for Native Americans was unabated. These feelings were expressed in several of his songs, including "Apache Tears" and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", and on his album, Bitter Tears.

"The Ballad Of Ira Hayes"
Ira Hayes, Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes. He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian, Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there's a story I would tell

About a brave young Indian you should remember well

From the land of the Pima Indian A proud and noble band

Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years The water grew Ira's peoples' crops'

Till the white man stole the water rights And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry And their land grew crops of weeds

When war came, Ira volunteered And forgot the white man's greed
Call him drunken Ira Hayes, He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill, Two hundred and fifty men

But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over And when Old Glory raised

Among the men who held it high Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes, He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero Celebrated through the land

He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian No water, no crops, no chance

At home nobody cared what Ira'd done And when did the Indians dance
Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;Jail was often his home

They'd let him raise the flag and lower itlike you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin' Alone in the land he fought to save

Two inches of water in a lonely ditch Was a grave for Ira Hayes
Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won't answer anymore

Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes But his land is just as dry

And his ghost is lyin' thirsty In the ditch where Ira died

Johnny Cash was born J. R. Cash in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Ray (1897–1985) and Carrie (née Rivers) Cash (1904–1991), and raised in Dyess, Arkansas.

Cash was given the name "J.R." because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials. When he enlisted in the United States Air Force, the military would not accept initials as his name, so he adopted John R. Cash as his legal name. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name. His friends and in-laws generally called him John, while his blood relatives usually continued to call him J.R.

Cash was one of seven children: Jack, Joanne Cash Yates, Louise Garrett, Reba Hancock, Roy, and Tommy. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

By the age of five, J.R. was working in the cotton fields, singing along with his family as they worked. The family farm was flooded on at least one occasion, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Five Feet High And Rising (lyrics)
My mama always taught me that good things come from adversity if we put our faith in the Lord. We couldn't see much good in the flood waters when they were causing us to have to leave home, But when the water went down, we found that it had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt across our land. The following year we had the best cotton crop we'd ever had.
I remember hearing:
How high's the water, mama?
Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Two feet high and risin'
We can make it to the road in a homemade boat
That's the only thing we got left that'll float
It's already over all the wheat and the oats, Two feet high and risin'
How high's the water, mama?
Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Three feet high and risin'
Well, the hives are gone, I've lost my bees
The chickens are sleepin'In the willow trees
Cow's in water up past her knees, Three feet high and risin'
How high's the water, mama?
Four feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Four feet high and risin'
Hey, come look through the window pane,
The bus is comin', gonna take us to the train
Looks like we'll be blessed with a little more rain, 4 feet high and risin'
How high's the water, mama?
Five feet high and risin'
How high's the water, papa?
Five feet high and risin'
Well, the rails are washed out north of town
We gotta head for higher ground
We can't come back till the water comes down, Five feet high and risin'
Well, it's five feet high and risin'


Cash was very close to his brother Jack, who was two years older. In 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling table saw in the mill where he worked, and cut almost in two. He suffered for over a week before he died. Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident.

According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven. He wrote that he had seen his brother many times in his dreams, and that Jack always looked two years older than whatever age Cash himself was at that moment.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a code intercept operator for Soviet Army transmissions, at Landsberg, Germany. On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a sergeant.