The first song I heard by Johnny Cash was " I walk the Line".
I still think it was his best.
what was that last video that Cash and Carter did together a few years back. It was so haunting, because it talked about dying and meeting on the other side. Does anyone remember the name of that song?
Men who love their wives seldom live long after the wife dies. We women for some reason bear our grief differently.
Excerpt:
Though Cash battled drug addiction for much of his life, he held strong Christian beliefs and often quoted the Bible. (search) He was deeply sympathetic to the downtrodden -- whether American Indians or convicts -- and gave them voice in his songs.
His faith seemed to grow stronger as his body grew weaker, Turner wrote. In his final months, he had a light box that projected pages of the Bible onto a screen so he could read it. He also spoke regularly with Graham, "someone whom he'd always relied on as a rock to lean on in times of trouble," Turner wrote.
"I think that's the only way he made it," his niece Kelly Hancock said. "I think he had the utmost faith in God and he looked to God for his faith and direction."
As late as Aug. 14, he was in the studio working on a humorous song called "Asthma Coming Down Like the 309" and another song called "1 Corinthians 15:55" (Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?).
His last song, "Engine 143," was recorded Aug. 21 about an engineer rushing to get to the station on time. He crashes the train and dies, and the song ends with the words, "And the very last words poor Georgie said were, 'Nearer my God to thee."'
Before I could even talk, Johnny Cash provided my first intense musical experience. When "Ring of Fire" would come on the radio, I would jump and stomp my feet and bang on anything around--deeply moved by that incredible feeling of musical bliss.
As a result, when I was still in kindergarten, my dad bought me "Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash" and I wore the grooves off of it.
Cash is still The Man.
He was a good man. The 24 years I lived in Hendersonville, TN I had the privledge of meeting him several times at local grocery stores (even wal mart). He always had a smile and a firm handshake. Never rude and always polite. His health was fading and escalated after his wifes death but, his big smile and firm handshake never wavered.
A real sweetheart of a man-
Anyone who heard Cash's intro of himself in concert: "Hello. I'm Johnny Cash." couldn't help but feel the spirit of the man on stage. His energy radiated wall to wall and consumed the audience in his performance. Even by the medium of television, he grabbed hold of you by the collar and you were locked eye to eye with him as the music and the lyrics invaded your very being. Musical history lists Elvis and Hank Sr. as greats in the art of musical communication, but Cash was in a league unto himself.