Obit: Johnny Cash passes (1932-2003)

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes 12 September 2003
From: GUEST,zalby57
Date: 14 Sep 10 - 10:05 AM

Fantastic 6 hour broadcast on SKY Arts the other night San Quentin, Anthology, A Half Mile Each Day, American 1V , Live @ Montreaux, and Gospel songs absolutely memorable

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes 12 September 2003
From: Beer
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 09:59 PM

Sadly missed but not forgotten.
ad.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes 12 September 2003
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 09:39 PM

It sure does. I would probably have guessed four years ago.

One of his later songs is one I love especially. I don't sing it but a friend of mine does.

I'm like a soldier getting over the war:

The reward for my victory was you.


ooooh

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes 12 September 2003
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 13 Sep 10 - 08:54 PM

It's been seven years since Johnny and June passed. Seven years yesterday Johnny died. Time sure goes fast.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: topical tom
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 05:38 PM

Undoubtedly one of the greatest duets of all time and each terrific in his and her own right.We miss you terribly, Johnny and June. RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: mkebenn
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 04:31 PM

Oh my...Mike

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 04:22 PM

I will never forget the first time I ever heard a Johnny Cash song. I was in the cafeteria at my high school in the late 1950's. "I Walk the Line" was played by someone. It was such a simple melody, but somehow visceral and a bit haunting, with that rumbling voice and guitar bass line thumping along. I was not an unabashed fan until much later, when I re-examined his body of work in the 1980's. Whatever else he was, his music was honest and true to his roots. I grew up with a lot of dust bowl refugees in the 1940's and 1950's. He spoke for them. He was THEIR "man in black."

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Beer
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 04:02 PM

That is heavy Dean. Thanks for sharing.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: frogprince
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:21 PM

I just followed a link from another thread to gospel songs on Youtube, and then stumbled unto this.. Listen to the first couple of verses, first solo by Johnny and then by June, and tell me you don't feel something run up your spine.
               Dean

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Big Tim
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 03:45 PM

"If the Grand Canyon could sing it would sound like Johnny Cash" - Charles Shaar Murray, English journalist.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 04:49 PM

Saturday night at church we'll use his wonderful song, 'Wings In The Morning.' I think he's flying around on 'em now.

LYRIC THREAD

You can hear it at RECORD LADY, using the artist and song indexes to find and download the sound file. (And please, support the Record Lady site if you can!)

~Susan

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 10:59 AM

Nice story in the Guardian:
Link

Comment

Alone with the Man in Black

I went to do an interview with Johnny Cash - he so moved me that I gave up my job and became a novelist

Louisa Young
Wednesday September 17, 2003

So there I was, sitting in Johnny Cash's front room in Hendersonville, Tennessee, about 10 or 12 years ago. He'd been with journalists most of the day and I was the last. A couple, I knew from chatting to them, were hacks with less than no interest in country music. I was worse - I was a fan.

He's looking a little tired, and a little fed up, in a polite way. The room is dim, lots of furniture, glass-fronted cabinets full of June's crystal and cut-glass collection.

"So," I say, "Are you still the Man in Black? Can you tell me why?"

He goes into the stock answer: quoting the song lyrics, about wearing black for the poor and the beaten down. But I know all that - I'm wondering if that's still how he feels, 30 years later. "I mean, are you still doing it?" I ask. "For the same reasons?"

"Now?" he says gently. There's a wry look in his eye. "Now more than ever... "

We get to talking about the evils of the world. I mention a song he recorded: Here Comes That Rainbow Again, by Kris Kristofferson. It's a small drama. A pair of Okie kids, a waitress and some truckers are in a roadside cafe. The kids ask: how much are the candies? "How much have you got?" the waitress replies. "We've only a penny between us". "Them's two for a penny," she lies.

A trucker notices. "Them candies ain't two for a penny," he says, and "So what's it to you?' she replied. Then when the truckers leave "She called 'Hey, you left too much money!' 'So what's it to you?' they replied."

It sounds hokey - but it's not, not the way Cash sang it, and certainly not in its first incarnation - the song is based on an intensely touching scene from Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

I mention this.

"You know that book?" he says, his face lighting up.

"I love that book," I say. "And you know that book!" Why am I surprised that Johnny Cash has read Steinbeck?

"Know that book?" he says. "I was that book." He smiles at me. It's kind of like being smiled at by Monument Valley, or the Hoover Dam. He pronounces it "Grapesawrath", like Rose of Sharon is pronounced Rosasharn.
[snip]

the rest is at the link above

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 01:18 AM

The best tribute I can think of for the man is his influence on a certain budding young guitarist who was definitely not into country music but couldn't resist learning "Folsom Prison Blues." That song, and the "windmill" thing Pete Townsend used to do, was about the extent of his repertoire back then. About the extent of his repertoire now, except the windmill thing has long since fallen by the wayside. Johnny may be gone, and this guitarist may still not be all that into country music, but "Folsom Prison Blues" will never cease to be a part of his repertoire, and, as long as somebody somewhere is learning and playing a Johnny Cash tune, the man will live on forever. Peace.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,An saddened observer...
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 07:48 PM

Johnny Cash was probably one of America's greatest musical treasures, and his absolutely no-nonsense performing style carved him a niche all his own. Who else could have been such close friends with a man like Roy Orbison, so private, shy and elusive, and have the room in his heart and his band for an aging, yet still totally smokin' Carl Perkins in his late 60's-era live band? Johnny Cash was and always will be totally unique. I have heard many singers attempt to do justice to his signature bass singing and bluesy inflections, but no one ever will come close. EVER.

He got freed from "this prison" and he "moved it on a little farther down the line" as he always said he would. (Folsom Prison Blues)

I will be blessed to see a Christian brother like John R. Cash in the new Kingdom of God one day.

An saddened observer

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 06:45 PM

I just got home from a weekend arts conference and read about this in the paper. Now I understand why folks requested Long Black Veil at the Friday night singaround!

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: bet
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 12:30 PM

As I read through all the postings I find that you have made my plans for a day with Johnny Cash much easier to organize. My students are not old enough (kindergarten thru 4th)to understand all that Johnny Cash meant to the music world but I would be greatly amiss if I didn't present a lesson on him and his contributions that we all have found.I will continue to enjoy his music and look up to the "man in black". bet

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 11:59 AM

Beautiful piece of writing, that editorial.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: JJ
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 10:51 AM

Now will someone please release the 1963 film"Hootennany Hoot" on home video? It's a terrible movie, but it has some great music, including an iconic Johnny Cash.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: MBSLynne
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 05:18 AM

I've always loathed country music with the exception of Johnny Cash and one or two others. His voice was so earthy and somehow comforting. I'm very sad.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 11:41 PM

Uncredited Editorial in the ADG. It'll be gone in a few hours, so I'm saving it here.


AN EDITORIAL : Johnny Cash
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2003

JUNE CARTER wasn't here any more, so there really wasn't much point in his sticking around much longer, was there? Truth to tell, which was Johnny Cash's way, he really wasn't that much of a singer, and while he could play that thing, nobody would call him a guitar virtuoso, either. His instrument was really himself, or rather us. We were his soundbox, the string he plucked. What he was, in a peculiar popular way, was a writer, with his predictable rhymes and meters and all, so that even those who might turn up the corner of their mouths when they thought of his songs would find themselves recognizing the very first note of a Johnny Cash song and slipping into... not reverie but reality. And their feet would start tapping. He was a storyteller; lots of singers are. But the story this one told was ours, again and again, just in different ways. His soil was our soil, however differently we'd grown in it, and wherever we would finally be buried in it. What he sang wasn't the songs but the prison bars and amphetamines and black clothes and tumbledown churches and unpaved roads and drab funerals without a point and cotton fields that needed weeding and bits of yesterday's paper swirling down a dirty street. His whiskery voice had the sound of railroad tracks rumbling with something afar off, and eternal vows that would last the night. The man himself stood behind his songs—his cocksure humility, that momentary pause while he took you in and before he'd say anything and so commit himself. It all came through even in the bad songs. He himself was the warrant for what he sang.

Our favorite was his very first song, which we couldn't shake no matter how much we despised ourselves for not being able to: Hey Porter. Maybe because it was about railroads and Dixie and coming home, always popular winners, but mainly because it was about returning, like Jacob, to a place that was holy but we knew it not. It had the sound of the Jubilee Year about it. Even that long ago he could come as close to soul as any white boy could. There was nothing quite like the feeling Hey Porter stirred, especially if you first heard it up North.

Well, John, you can get off the train now. You're home. In the real Dixie. Maybe it's the gospel strain in that first of his songs, but we have a feeling he's just started to live. Under all the ordinary despair he sang, there was always that deep, deep chord of hope. Else he couldn't have sung us the way he did.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Luckyforward
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 10:19 PM

Good Bye Johnny and God Speed. Thanks for everything.

Pitbull

Subject: Lyr Add: LET THE TRAIN BLOW THE WHISTLE (J Cash)
From: pattyClink
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 09:46 PM

LET THE TRAIN BLOW THE WHISTLE
Words and music by Johnny Cash
As recorded by Johnny Cash on "American Recordings" (1994)

I don't want no aggravation
When my train has left the station.
If you're there or not, I may not even know.
Have a round and remember
Things we did that weren't so tender.
Let the train blow the whistle when I go.

On my old guitar sell tickets
So someone can fin'lly pick it,
And tell the girls down at the ritz I said hello.
Tell the gossipers and liars
I will see them in the fire.
Let the train blow the whistle when I go.

CHORUS: Let 'er blow; let 'er blow
Long an' loud and hard an' happy; let 'er blow.
No regrets; all my debts will be paid when I get laid.
Let 'er blow; let 'er blow; let 'er blow.

You'll be left without excuses
For the evils and abuses
Down to the day from years and years ago.
And have yourself another toke
From my basket full of smoke
And let the train blow the whistle when I go. CHORUS

Let 'er blow; let 'er blow; let 'er blow.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Amergin
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 03:31 PM

Thanks katdarlin for the song September When it Comes...hearing it now brings chills down my spine....alsmot as if he waited for September to go back to those he loves...

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: fat B****rd
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 03:21 PM

A great artist and a great interpreter of contemporary material. Warren last week now The Man In Black. RIP Mr. Cash.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 02:52 PM

Thank you katlaughing for sharing "September". I have just listened to it and it is a fitting tribute to the "man in black".

I am now wiping away the tears.

RIP Johnny Cash, we love you.

Subject: RE: Chicago Club Tales thread for J.Cash tale
From: Amos
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 01:26 PM

Art,

Although your story on Johnny was only thinly disguised I am glad you finally got the thinly disguised part out. Great story, too!


A

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 12:09 PM

Please let me mention my two favorite Cash performances:

"Girl From The North Country", a duet with Dylan done with no glitz, just two voices and two guitars, (I think from BD's guest appearance on JC's TV show eons ago). Actually may have been BD's best moment, besides.

Kristopherson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (also recorded from a live performance, I believe).

Imagine for a moment that you had a tiny recording operation in the
50's, in the deep South, and in walked Cash, Presley and J L Lewis.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 12:06 PM

Speaking of others he liked, there is an excellent section of the documentary The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack (done by Ramblin' Jack's daughter) that includes Johnny Cash and an appearance on his show. The docu isn't bad in total but the Cash section and a few others make it well worth watching.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Bill D
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 12:01 PM

thanks for the song, Bert ..it says a lot...

what is really amazing is how Johnny pulled himself up by his bootstraps after hitting bottom in the 60s on drugs...and became the guy we are praising today! He could so easily have become another Hank Williams. We are fortunate he had the strength to quit and just BE Johnny Cash.

He starred in a couple of made for TV movies too...one about a man who tried for years to hide his inability to read, which I understand was pretty close to autobiographical.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Gern
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 11:32 AM

It's like hearing that a redwood tree has fallen... Johnny was the first country singer I liked, and will always be my favorite. As a songwriter, he was simple and matchless. He was absolutely his own man and carried himself with a powerful grace. It won't be the same without him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: freightdawg
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 11:11 AM

Like so many others I grew up listening to Johnny Cash and was greatly saddened to hear of his passing. I guess the music we listen to when we are 10 years old or so has the greatest impact on our lives. I remember listening to the young Johnny Cash along with the young Waylon Jennings. They (among others) formed my view of what country music should be. I do not think Waylon stayed with style or quality of his early work, but you could listen to Johnny Cash at any stage of his career and the music and lyrics were so similar - aged perhaps in the way a fine wine ages, but always similar. Something else that Johnny Cash introduced to us was the Statler Bros., a group he heard and chose for his warm up act. They went on to record a tremendous song in honor of Johnny "We Got Paid By Cash."

One thing that bums me about all the tributes (except this site) is that so much of Johnny's other work is forgotten. It's true he was a voice for the downtrodden, but he also had some really quirky, funny work. One album that has just about disappeared from the face of the earth is "Everybody Loves A Nut" with a song of the same name. I can't find it anywhere and have looked for years. If memory serves me correctly there was also a little give and take with Waylon Jennings where they sing about stepping out with each other's woman. The song is virtually the same, just each other's name is switched depending on who was singing. I have Waylon Jenning's version, but can't find the one where John sings.

Anyway, a true master is gone, but the legend will live on. The circle will never be broken.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Hollowfox
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 09:39 AM

With his various infirmities, I prefer to think he's stopped hurting.

And as that other tall southern gentleman with the deep voice said,

"Johnny Cash..the one man who could get a generation of rednecks to wear lace."--Gamble Rogers

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Big Tim
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 07:02 AM

"I don't dance, I don't tell funny stories, I don't wear tight pants...but I know a thousand songs". Johnny Cash.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 11:33 PM

open mike, you're welcome, but I am sorry it stopped part way through. I had uploaded the whole song and it plays fine for me. Any of the rest of you had a problem with it?

My son and I had a nice visit about Johnny, today. He has always loved his music, too, and was very sorry to hear of his passing.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 11:22 PM

Back in my high school days, (30 odd years ago) all my friends were listening to Led Zeplin, the Doors, The Rolling Stones etc...but not me ... I was sooo into Johnny Cash. I was telling my daughter today,she's 19, that Johnny had died. I half expected her to say "Johnny who?" but to my surprize she said .."That's really too bad, i just bought his latest CD. I just love his music"

He will live forever through his music.

LL

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 11:08 PM

Johnny Cash was one of the all-time Greats. He was for real. I figured he was going to go soon, so I can't say I'm surprised, but I don't believe anyone truly dies...they just move on to a different stage and role. Still, the man we knew as "Johnny Cash" won't be seen again, and he will surely be missed by those who knew and loved him.

Sing on, Johnny. You live in our hearts and memories.

I wonder sometimes if I will outlive all those I have been most inspired by? Probably not, because new ones keep coming along now and then.

- LH

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: open mike
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 10:07 PM

kat thanks for the september sound byte..
it stopped on the word shadows...
which is guess is appropriate...
sweet, sweet shadows...

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Bert
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 09:44 PM

Awshit, bugger, bugger, bugger. Bye

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,AR282
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 09:37 PM

Man, I remember hearing "Walkin' the Blues" and "Tennessee Flat Top Box" years ago and driving down a deserted dirt road heavily wooded and Johnny's on NPR singing about taking a car home piece by piece. I remember him from my early boyhood with his television program. I remember listening to "Ring of Fire" after I saw lyrics in Zap Comix--the Checkered Demon. My southern neighbor used to play his music all the time when I was like 6 or 7. I dug what he was doing even then.

Man, he's tough to lose.

Subject: Chicago Club Tales threa for J.Cash tale
From: Art Thieme
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 09:23 PM

Since Johnny Cash passed away this morning, I brought back the thread on CHICAGO FOLK CLUB TALES since it contains one I put there about Mr. Cash.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: NicoleC
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 09:09 PM

*sigh*

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 06:01 PM

Politics and music go together.

Johnny Cash was completely in the middle of it. I loved his music also, but acknowledge the fact that there are definately some who really hated it.

Funny how some are referred to as trolls when their own agenda is challenged.

Subject: Add: mp3 link September
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:58 PM

I am sorry I didn't get this up, earlier. It is a farewell song by Johnny called "September."I think it is Roseanne singing at a concert in Portland with Johnny's part dubbed into the concert, if I remember correctly. I'll check with my friend and find out. It is doubly poignant for its name and his passing in this month of early autumn. Listen to the words, they are beautiful, as is the singing...

Johnny sings:

I plan to crawl outside these walls, close my eyes and see
And fall into the hearts and arms of those who wait for me...
I cannot move a mountain now, I can no longer run
I cannot be who I was then, in a way I never was.

When the shadows lengthen and burn away the past
They will fly me like an angel to a place where I can rest.
When this begins, I'll let you in...September when it comes.

kat

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: CET
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:42 PM

I'm surprised the obituary quoted earlier mentioned his "uncertain voice" and "limited range", as if he had succeeded inspite of his undistinguished voice(like Bob Dylan, in my opinion). I think of Johnny Cash above all as a great singer. True, he didn't have the greatest range in the world, but at his best his voice was resonant, powerful and effortless. The tone was rich and virile, never ugly. Also, I've never heard a country singer that had more artistry in the way he used his voice and put his songs across. Listen to The Man Comes Around. Even when most of his power was gone he could still pull off Danny Boy. I don't like that song, but it is very difficult to sing, and you have to marvel at Johnny's skill.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:41 PM

... and it should be noted Mark that Cash made "Ballad of Ira Hayes" a hit in 1964. May not have reached #1, but it sure got the song out there.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Mark Ross
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:38 PM

I'm glad to see that someone posted Mitch Podolak's thoughts on the subject. As are all of us, Cash was not a one-dimensional human being, he had good & bad as part of his makeup. 30 years ago he asked Utah Phillips if he could record some of his railroad songs(I believe)and Phillips asked him not to. Utah didn't want his money coming from the Industry. Cash, who could have recorded the songs anyway, honored the request. That would make him a stand up guy in my book. Also, his recording of Peter LaFarge's songs was a matter of principle. Despite opposition from his label he cut THE BALLAD OF IRA HAYES as well as other songs presenting the plight of Native Americans, not caring if the industry got behind him or not.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:37 PM

You know, I was just about to post a note commenting on how interesting it is to see all these posts about Johnny Cash and how there are no "trolls" that use these affectionate notes to cram their political views. Oh well.

I always loved Johnny Cash and I will miss him. Not only did he stand up for Pete Seeger, but he also made a stand for Bob Dylan in the early days at Columbia. Dylan never forgot that, and it is interesting that Cash's show was the only "major" show that Dylan appeared on in the 60's.

I was listening to a CD of Johnny recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1969. He spoke about the Vietnam War and how he went to Vietnam to perform for the troops. Somebody asked him if that made him a hawk and he replied, no it does not. After talking and meeting with all the wounded solidiers and seeing the war first hand, it made him a "dove with claws" that wanted to end the war and bring them home. He then sang Ed McCurdy's "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream".

Cash recorded numerous "folk" songs - traditional tunes, gospel tunes, and songs from writers like Peter LaFarge, Ed McCurdy, Dylan and others.

He will be missed. Thank you Johnny!

Ron Olesko

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Martin Gibson
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:27 PM

Actually, Cash was supposed to be a good friend of Richard Nixon as he was with Billy Graham. Common sense says that he didn't do Okie from Muskokie because it wasn't his song, it was Merle Haggard's and he probably didn't want to make Nixon look like a jerk for asking him to sing it. Part of Cash's genius was his ability to appeal to "piss anters" as you call them, of both the right wing and left wing persuasion.

By name calling such as "piss ant right wing arsehole politician" you lower yourself to no more than a Sean Hannity type of mentality.

Martin Gibson
Country Music Historian
Political Moderate

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:25 PM

I was first made aware of Johnny Cash when he appeared on one of Jack Good's U.K.tv rock shows in the late 50s. He sang " I've got Stripes", a song that was also part of Leadbelly's repetoire. I loved Johnny's Sun period and his early Columbia stuff. So many of the Sun's rock/country legends have now gone :- Elvis, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison - and of couse, Sam Phillips. Jerry Lee is the only member of the Million Dollar Quartet still with us - and he looks very fragile these days.

Subject: RE: Obit: Johnny Cash passes
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 05:03 PM

The following was posted on the "Maplepost" newsgroup by Mitch Podolak:

In the fall of 1969 when ABC's Johnny Cash show was about to go from summer replacement to full blast network show, Cash insisted that Pete Seeger be allowed to come on the show. It was a condition of his contract. It was in the the middle of the Vietnam era which coincidentily was not that long from the time of Joe McCarty and ABC had refused to allow Seeger, the "communist peacenik" on other shows. It was a great moment, Cash's summer show had been such a hit with the public that the network bureaucrats were caught between a rock and a hard place simply because they were driven by the love of lucre. If you read his book he says that he tried to speak for "voices that were ignored or suppressed in the entertainment media", to me this was well illustrated when he came out swinging for Pete.
I suppose that when June Carter Cash died a few months ago that I along with lots of other folks kind of worried that Johnny Cash might not be too far behind. In the next couple of days were gonna see and hear thousands of words and deep mourning from the folks in the country music world and well beyond, we'll probably even hear some piss ant right wing arsehole politician pining for the man in black, there is going to be an amazing outpouring of grief. This morning after hearing the news I am distraught as I'm sure many of you are and will be in the days to come.

In sync with the wizardry of his music, Cash was a standup human being who was unafraid to confront stupidity. I always thought that when Cash stood up for Pete, that he had stood up for the rest of us as well...


To which I added this:

As well, when performing at the White House, he was asked by Richard Nixon to do "Okie from Muskokee". Cash declined to do it on the grounds that it was too disrespectful to many Americans of good conscience, whether they were right or wrong.

He has been a most impressive human being, and I feel that the loss of this man truly does diminish us all.


Jeremiah