26. February 2014
Johnny Cash Lives On!
By Walter Price
Today we celebrate the day of birth of the one and only, The Man In Black, The fabulous Johnny Cash or just CASH!
There is very little that hasn’t been said about the boy from Arkansas that went on to be one of the most influential voices in recorded music with a storied persona as big as any part of his roller coaster of a career.
So i’ll mention just a very few of the Cash tracks that made my life all the better and that helped me expand my thoughts on the unnecessary boundaries people ‘in the know’ try to enforce on us mere music lovers.
1. “Cry, Cry, Cry” – ‘Now Here’s Johnny Cash’ (’61). Writer: Johnny Cash
2. “Ring Of Fire” – ‘Ring Of Fire: The Best Of Johnny Cash’ (’63)
Writers: June Carter Cash/ Merle Kilgore
3. “Folsom prison Blues” – ‘With His Hot and Blue Guitar’ (’57)
Writer: Johnny Cash
In all actuality, Johnny Cash didn’t release much of anything I didn’t dig into and in most cases fall in love with. That’s just the way it is and always has been. Cash drove the point home every time as he narrated life’s desperation with that deep, some times humorous, and attention demanding voice. Turning folk music into country and Rock N’ Roll staples that almost every artists has learned from and to varying degrees of flattery, tried to emulate.
That is the power of Cash. A voice that will live on!
And now we all know that his family are currently mining the Cash archives for material to release. This has caused a bit of controversy but what it has done is keep The Man In Black’s name in the media well past his passing and that is more than alright with me.
“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.” – Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003