Johnny Cash Has Died

KFWB Los Angeles | 09/14/03

[kingu]

Breaking news announced at top of news: Johnny Cash has died today.

[sweetliberty]

Wow. Doesn't even look him.

[ladtx]

You're welcome. One of my favorite websites for music. Check out their archives page for Classic Saturdays.

[Huck]

"That Ragged Old Flag"

I walked through a county courthouse square

On a park bench, an old man was sittin there.

I said, "Your court house is kinda run down,

He said, "No, it will do for our little town".

I said "your old flag pole kinda leaned a little bit,

And that’s a ragged old flag you got hanging on it".

He said "have a seat", so I sat down,

He said, "is this your first visit to our little town"

I said, "I think it is"

He said "I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of

"That Ragged Old Flag"

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,

When Washington took it across the Delaware.

It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it, writing

"Oh Say Can You See"

It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson

tugging at its seams.

It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag,

But she waved on tho.

It got cut with a sword in Chancellorsville,

Got cut again at Shiloh Hill.

There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,

And the south wind blew hard on

"That Ragged Old Flag"



On Flanders Field in World War I,

She took a bad hit from a Bertha Gun,

She turned blood red in World War II

She hung limp and low by the time that one was through,

She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent

by her Uncle Sam.



The Native Americans, The Black, Yellow and White

All shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes.

And here in her own good land,

She’s been abused, burned, dishonored, denied and refused,

And the very government for which she stands

Has been scandalized throughout out the land.

And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearing kinda thin,

But she’s in pretty good shape, for the shape she’s in.

Cause she’s been through the fire before

and she can take a whole lot more.



So we raise her up every morning

And we bring her down slow every night,

We don’t let her touch the ground,

And we fold her up right.

On second thought
I do like to brag

Cause I’m mighty proud of

"That Ragged Old Flag"


Written by Johnny Cash

[Kevin Curry]

I seem to recall that he wrote, "I Walk the Line," in a military barracks (Air Force?) in Germany somewhere in the 1950s. The thought of a skinny, young Johnny Cash strumming his guitar and singing in the obscurity of one of those long-forgotten barracks, dreaming of making it big in Nashville, always makes me smile.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Apparently Johnny Cash could not go on living in a world without John Ritter.

[#3Fan]

Salutations to Johnny Cash

[newgeezer]

I wasn't going to post it but, I was certainly thinking along those lines, especially when the morning newscast opened with, "Two great entertainers died overnight."

Big John was a living legend.

[Landru]

"This is so sad!"

Not for a person of true faith, it isn't.
All of Johnny's troubles & pain are over while ours, on the other hand, linger on.

It was because of this man's wayward life he could deliver -- to these ears -- amoung the most beautiful, insightful music to ever come outa Nashville.

To honor this man's passing I feel printing the lyrics to a song Johnny performed, written by Kris Kristofferson, would be an appropriate trubute.
No one could perform this song quite as soulfully as did Johnny Cash, no one.
Johnny Cash's eyes had seen more than his fair share of these kinds of Sunday mornings.
----------

"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 the songs I'd been pickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Playin' with a can that he was kicking
Then I walked across the street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone's fryin' chicken
And it took me back to somethin'
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 nothin' short of dyin'
-That's half as lonesome as the sound
-Of a sleepin' city sidewalk
-And Sunday mornin' comin' down.

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughin' little girl who he was swingin'
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the songs they were singin'
Then I headed down the street
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin'
And it echoed thru 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 nothin' short of dyin'
-That's half as lonesome as the sound
-Of a sleepin' city sidewalk
-And Sunday mornin' comin' down.
----------

...thanks for opening my eyes, Johnny.

[Huck]

Seems like he was a great, decent man. I like that image you describe.

[ThinkingMan]

You will be missed Mr. Cash

RING OF FIRE

Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

CHORUS:
I Fell Into 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

I Fell Into 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 Ours Meet
I Fell For You Like A Child
Oh, But The Fire Went Wild

CHORUS
I Fell Into 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

I Fell Into 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

And It Burns, Burns, Burns

The Ring Of Fire

The Ring Of Fire

[sweetliberty]

"I do not recall a time when so many in the entertainment world died in such a short period."

Perhaps with those with such big and broken hearts could take more of the sadness of what we have become, so God had mercy on them and took them home.

[sushiman]

Not a big fan , actually ...but accumalated a couple of albums over the years ...Listening to JOHNNY CASH AT SAN QUENTIN now with a sho chu ( Japanese vodka-like alkie hall ) and water ... He was a one-off ...

[Constitution Day]

I was under the impression that there was no streaming radio available now because of copyright/royalty issues.
I don't care a whit for modern "country" music; give me the classics anyday.
Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams [Sr.], Patsy Cline, George Jones, and more are what I like.
I can't wait to check out the archives!

All those singers evoke great memories of time I spent with my late grandfather, too.

[stainlessbanner]

SUNSET

I'll tell you how the sun set.
As shadows marched in lines.
And God sent west his rainbows.
A color at a time.

The hills put on their blankets.
The hawk and crow were done.
And as I said softly in twilight.
See you tomorrow, sun.

I sat out in the darkness.
And felt the dew drops fall.
I watched the moon rise in its place.
I heard the night birds call.

God's world, in perfect order.
In line, one after one.
May I be in accordance.
On my last setting sun.

J.C. 1996

[Skooz]

I made a valiant effort not to chuckle at that post. I failed.

[ThinkingMan]

DON'T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN

A young cowboy named Billy Joe
Grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wanderlust
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;

Refrain:
"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 town,
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar and laid his money down
But his mother's words echoed again;

Refrain:
"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 at last he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mother's words;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

Bill was raged and Billy 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 floor the crowd all gathered 'round
And wondered at his final words;

Refrain:
"Don't take your guns to town, son
Leave your guns at home, Bill
Don't take your guns to town."

[Afronaut]

[stainlessbanner]

Were you on the thread a few weeks ago when we all agreed contemporary country music has gotten too "girly"? I love the old stuff more and more. Cash is classic. I can just hear his voice, "Hello I'm Johnny Cash" and the guitar getting the rythm of Folsom Prison....

He was a Man's Man - a true one of kind Legend. We are so blessed to have his legacy.

In his own words:

"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

[ohioWfan]

He didn't want to live without June...........

[newgeezer]

---Snoop Doggy Dog--2003

Uh, sure. Thanks for your always-thoughtful insight, "Dog."