Diplomsko Delo

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko

DIPLOMSKO DELO

Manica Doberšek

Maribor, 2009

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA Oddelek za anglistiko in amerikanistiko

Diplomsko delo

JOHNNY CASH AND HIS LYRICS

Mentor: Dr. Victor Kennedy, red. prof.

Kandidatka: Manica Doberšek

Maribor, 2009

Zahvala

Zahvaljujem se svojemu mentorju, prof. dr. Victorju Kennedyju, za zanimivo idejo in možnost, da jo uresni čim, kot tudi za vse nasvete. Neizmerno hvala staršem za potrpljenje in podporo med študijem in še posebej med nastajanjem diplome. Hvaležna sem tudi Ani in Renati za vse skupne študentske dni, vzpodbude in pomo č ter Urošu, ki me je v najtežjih trenutkih znal nasmejati.

Izjava

Podpisana Manica Doberšek, rojena 26.9.1984, študentka Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Mariboru, smer angleški jezik s književnostjo in geografija, izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z naslovom Johnny Cash and his Lyrics pri mentorju dr. Victorju Kennedyju, avtorsko delo. V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti niso prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.

Manica Doberšek

Štore, 12. 6. 2009

ABSTRACT

The music and lyrics that Johnny Cash either signed his name to or lent his beautiful baritone voice have a special place in American, as well as in the world’s, music. The main purpose of the diploma is above all to critically analyse the lyrics of the songs that described his and many other’s lives. Cash’s own experiences, tragic personal stories, relationships between the sexes, minority problems, God, and awareness of transience of life are the most frequent themes that he devoted most of his attention to. The more sad and dramatic the story is, the more attractively Cash wraps it within humor. The survey of only a fragment of his rich collection reveals a man with an incomparable sense of opposites, which reflects in his life as in the stories of his characters. Criminals and Native Americans, who were in the American history highly despised, were most frequently celebrated in the songs. Johnny Cash is one of the rare musicians whose music is listened to by his coevals to generations just to be born, presidents and convicts.

Key words: Johnny Cash, lyrics, poetry, interpretations;

POVZETEK

Glasba in besedila pod katera se je podpisal ali jim posodil svoj čudoviti baritonski glas Johnny Cash imajo tako v ameriški kot tudi svetovni glasbi prav posebno mesto. Cilj tega diplomskega dela je bila predvsem kriti čna analiza besedil njegovih pesmi, ki so zaznamovale njegovo življenje kot tudi mnoga druga. Lastne izkušnje, tragi čne osebne zgodbe, odnosi med spoloma, manjšinski problemi, Bog in zavedanja o človeški minljivosti so tematike, ki se jim je ta vsestranski umetnik najraje posve čal. In bolj kot je zgodba žalostna, dramati čna, lepše jo Cash zavije v humor. Pregled le del čka bogate zbirke razkriva človeka z neprimerljivim smislom za nasprotja, ki se odraža tako v njegovem življenju kot v zgodbah njegovih junakov. Najve čkrat so bili to kriminalci in domorodci, ki so v zgodovini Amerike tudi najbolj zani čevani. Johnny Cash je eden redkih glasbenikov čigar glasbo poslušajo tako njegovi vrstniki kot generacije, ki se šele rojevajo, predsedniki držav in kaznjenci.

Klju čne besede: Johnny Cash, besedila pesmi, poezija, interpretacije pesmi;

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1

2 HISTORY...... 2

2.1 USA IN THE 1950 S...... 2 2.2 AMERICAN POETRY IN THE 1950 S AND 1960 S ...... 4

3 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SONGS ...... 6

3.1 “F OLSOM PRISON BLUES ” ...... 8 3.2 “F IVE FEET HIGH AND RISING ” ...... 10 3.3 “T HE MAN IN BLACK ”...... 13 3.4 “T HE MAN COMES AROUND ”...... 17

4 THE BALLADS...... 22

4.1 FEATURES OF THE BALLAD ...... 22 4.2 “T HE BALLAD OF IRA HAYES ” ...... 23 4.3 “G IVE MY LOVE TO ROSE ”...... 26 4.4 “D ON ’T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN ”...... 27 4.5 “D ELIA ’S GONE ” ...... 29

5 HUMOR AND IRONY IN POEMS...... 31

5.1 “M EAN EYED CAT ” AND “B EANS FOR BREAKFAST ” ...... 31 5.2 “A BOY NAMED SUE ” ...... 34 5.3 “O NE PIECE AT A TIME ” ...... 36 5.4 MURDER SONGS ...... 39

6 SONGS THAT JOHNNY CASH INTERPRETED ...... 41

6.1 “O NE ” (U2) ...... 42 6.2 “H URT ” (N INE INCH NAILS ) ...... 44

7 JOHNNY CASH’S INFLUENCE ...... 47

8 THE REVIEW OF WALK THE LINE ...... 50

9 CONCLUSION...... 54

10 WORKS CITED AND CONSULTED...... 56

APPENDICES...... 61

1 INTRODUCTION

I’m not a savior, and I’m not a saint. The man with the answers I certainly ain’t.

I was not an enthusiastic fan of Johnny Cash and his music for all my life as one might think. I first heard of him only two years ago when I went paragliding with my friends. It was then when Vladi played Cash’s CD in his car. A few minutes went by and then I could not resist asking who performed the music, although I knew it was probably someone famous and it will be obvious that I am not well versed in music. He returned me a smile and asked me with his grown-up voice “You don’t know Johnny Cash?” Of course I do not, why would I be asking if I did? I started explaining that I liked what I heard and then he willingly lent me his CD which I have not returned since. I liked it too much and he did not mind. It does not happen that I like every song on an album, yet this one was an exception. I have played that CD over and over again. There were at least three songs on The Man Comes Around that made the hairs on the arms stand up, and while flying I just could not stop humming to myself. Since then I have listened to almost every song Johnny Cash performed, and I liked what I heard. The idea of writing a diploma about Cash’s poetry came by itself since his lyrics are powerful and somebody must speak up and reveal his mastery. He wrote lyrics that make you think and you can not forget his words. He was the voice for people who do not matter to most of the world but they become alive and real when you listen to his songs. It is also his capability of mixing humor and sad stories that made me like his poetry. Yet in the end he is not only a poet, he is also a remarkable musician with an outstanding legacy. He is known worldwide for his deep voice and the number of albums he recorded. He recorded more than 1500 songs in his life. Many of them describe what Johnny Cash in fact is, and with two of them he certainly says enough. He is A Man in Black and A Singer of Songs.

2 HISTORY 2.1 USA in the 1950s

Johnny R. Cash was born in rural, south-central Arkansas, on February 26, 1932. He started his career in the 1950s. This was the post-war time since WW2 ended soon after the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs did not end just the war but also nearly 20 years of economic stagnation that was caused by the Depression and war. This was a time when soldiers came home and the economy was thriving. Everybody not only had a job but had a higher paid job and could afford much a higher living standard. Veterans started to build houses for their families in the suburbs. This was also the start of the baby boom and the time of the Korean War, in which the US participated, lasted from 1950 until 1953.

The 1950s were an extremely influential time era in American history because of Rock and Roll, the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, new fashions, the television, advancements in medicine, and suburban life was much more functional than any other decade in American history (“1950’s”). Rock and roll was a very important “invention” because it made people forget about their morals so that they could have fun and it also led to many types of music that we nowadays know- such as Heavy Metal, new age rock, Alternative, and so on. Johnny Cash is considered one of the pioneers of rock and roll. The most well known rock and roll singer was definitely Elvis Presley, with songs like “Hound Dog”, “Love Me Tender”, and “Blue Suede Shoes” written by Carl Perkins, which Johnny planted the seed for. The event on the bus when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man started a Civil Rights Movement in 1950s. Together with Martin Luther King JR and Malcom X, they started to change American history and ensured that African Americans today have equal treatment with whites under the law. After that moment segregation was soon wiped out.

New fashion was caused by the fact that during the war the USA did not have any contact with Paris which at the time was the fashion capitol of the world. America was therefore forced to create its own fashion and so it did. Many of the technological advancements in entertainment helped people live a much happier and more exciting life (“1950’s”). One such thing was the television that was in every average household in that era and had influenced on family, culture, and politics.

Another war that took place in the 1950s and continued until 1975 was the Vietnam War between South Vietnam, supported by the USA and others, and North Vietnam and its communist allies.

As an analogy to the Civil Rights Movement, Johnny Cash lent his voice to downtrodden minorities, Native Americans in particular. He was often critical of the government and their decisions, especially about war; yet, he was several times in the company of presidents or presidential candidates regardless of the party they belonged to as long as they felt true to him. Johnny’s music influenced not only his generation but also all the next generations of musicians as his numerous and varied audience, everyone from the US president to murderers in prison.

2.2 American Poetry in the 1950s and 1960s

In the 1950s, although there was no dominant prescription for a poem, the short lyric meditation was held in high regard. Avoiding the first person, poets would find an object, landscape, or an observed encounter that epitomized and clarified their feelings. A poem was the product of retrospection and gesture of composure following the initial shock or stimulus that provided the occasion for writing. Often composed in intricate stanzas and skillfully rhymed, poem deployed its mastery of verse form as one sign of the civilized mind’s power to explore, tame, and distill raw experience (Baym 2405).

The postwar generation of poets was called The Children of Midas by Richard Howard. This term relates to King Midas, who turned everything he touched to gold and wanted to lose this gift. The Children of Midas were trying to lose “the gift of order, despoiling the self of all that had been, merely, propriety” (Baym 2406). Poets such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Allen Ginsberg and John Berryman were trying to forget what they learned from their teachers such as Eliot, Auden, Yeats. They were now showing that poetry’s subject matter extended to more “explicit and extreme areas of autobiography” than it was when they started. Insanity, sexuality, abortion, divorce, and alcoholism were themes they talked about in their work. Some poets like Denise Levertov, Adrienne Rich, Robert Lowell, Galway Kinnell identified themselves with a specific reform and protest movement against participation in the Vietnam War and support of the corrupt South Vietnam regime. On the other hand, some were participating in freedom movements- such as the movements for black power Gwendolyn Brooks and LeRoi Jones-Amiri Baraka, women’s liberation Carolyn Kizer and Anne Sexton, gay rights James Merrill. There were also some who displayed environmental concerns such as W.S. Mervin.

Earlier I mentioned that this decade was the decade of the Civil Rights Movement, which also affected poetry and its creators. The most well known groups in the poetry of the 1950s and 1960s were The Beat Poets and the Black Mountain School. The Beats were very close to hippies since their work “envisioned freer lifestyles and explored underground alternatives to life in standardized or mechanical society” (Baym, 2407).

The Black Mountain poets were influenced by the rector of Black Mountain College, Charles Olson, who wrote an essay entitled “Projective Verse” in which he wrote that poems should have “an improvised form that should reflect exactly the content of the poem” (“Black Mountain College”).

3 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SONGS

I can help you hear a baby’s laugh and feel the joy it brings. Yes, I can do it with the songs I sing.

When you look in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for Johnny Cash’s occupation you will find that he was a singer-songwriter, musician and actor. In my paper I will focus on his singing-songwriting ability and therefore a definition of it is necessary.

Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to performers who write, compose and sing their own material including lyrics and melodies. They are often providing the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar (“Singer- songwriter”).

Mr. Cash was a very prolific musician- he recorded over 1000 songs in his fifty year long career; however, this productiveness is outshone by the quality of his words. Anyone who listens to Johnny can confirm that he surpasses the definition of singer- songwriter from above. His powerful voice, which tells magnificent yet everyday stories that have a deep meaning in a very simple way, combines the melody and the words. Well, Johnny wrote a lot of songs that are modern and well known just as poems of his modern contemporaries. I see no reason that his songs, lyrics or poems in fact should not be treated as pieces of art just the way poems of modern American poets are, since if one takes the melody away, what remains are words or poems. The difference between a poem and a song according to Oxford’s Advanced Lerner’s Dictionary is in the music that accompanies the words.

A Poem is a piece of writing in which the words are chosen for their sound and the images they suggest, not just for their obvious meanings. The words are arranged in separate lines, usually with a repeated rhythm and sometimes the lines rhyme at the end (Wehmeier 972).

Song is a short piece of music with words that you sing (Wehmeier 1231).

We must not forget that Johnny Cash really is The Singing Storyteller just as he named his 1970 album and music should never be left out although it is harder to get it on paper than words are.

The themes Johnny Cash sang about differ from each other but remain themes describing common man’s thoughts. He sang about love, war, nature, Native Americans, God, and a lot of sad, tragic life stories. He wrote about things that he knew. What he did not experience, for example crime and jail, he tried and found a way he could, by concerts in prisons for example.

3.1 “Folsom Prison Blues”

“Folsom Prison Blues” was released on a beautiful album entitled At San Quentin. He recorded albums in prisons and one of his prison shows was seen live by famous country singer Merle Haggard, who said it inspired him to go into music. He was in Cash’s audience, of course.

This song is really great, all the way from the opening guitar intro to the end of the song. The lyrics are undoubtedly ahead of their time; besides, the song is given an additional meaning since it is recorded in an actual prison.

It contains the immortal line “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” which definitely indicates how brave Cash was to put it in the text and also how close his mind was to a criminal one. He often sang of outlaws and pictured them as friendly normal human beings who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. This one does not differ.

There are definitely several meanings in the song. It is not just about a killer who is tough and wants to get out of prison, but there are other, deeper meanings too.

The song is rich in every aspect. The prisoner can hear a train but does not see it, yet he knows that it is going to San Antonio. The image of a train appears in the first stanza and again in the last one. It makes him sad because it stands for a state which contradicts his own. The train is constantly moving; it has its own route and destination; it is free in contrast to the man who is inside the walls, static, without an escape. He emphasizes his entrapment with the statement “I ain’t seen the sunshine, since, I don’t know when” which has several meanings. He is literally inside walls, feeling cold since there is no warmth and suggesting he is alone and needs love.

Cash used the motif of a mother telling her son to be good or warning him earlier in “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”. Here the man did not listen to what his mother told him (“be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns”) and he shot a man. He shot a man in Reno which is in Nevada but the prison he is in is in California and normally you do

your time in the state of the crime. The exceptions are capital crimes which are leading in federal prisons.

The man is suffering because of what he had done but I do not think he is actually sorry for it. He is sorry because he is in prison. He hangs his head and cries only when he hears “that whistle blowing”. The image of a train passing by haunts him as he deservingly rots in prison. I believe that's what inspires him to yearn so much for freedom. Although he is not sorry for taking ones life, he is well aware of what he had done and why is he doing his time.

But I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free

He wishes he was like the rich people outside the walls who did nothing wrong or perhaps did but got away with a little help of money which these two lines are suggesting:

But those people keep a-movin', And that's what tortures me.

He definitely envies them because they can move; they are free and not because of all the fortune they have. In the next verse he daydreams what it would be like if he were freed from prison. The image of a train appears again. If he owned it he would be far from Folsom. Here the train is not a temptation that reminds him of freedom anymore but a mere means for escape into normal way of life.

And I'd let that lonesome whistle, Blow my Blues away.

Cash takes us on a journey into the feelings of a man in prison and not of shooting someone and watching him dying. He introduces us to a feeling of regret, a desire for freedom and anger at those who are free. His way of presenting the character is incredible, since it is impossible not to feel sorry for him. He found a solution, an

escape for this prisoner in music as he did for many of them in the prisons he appeared in.

3.2 “Five feet high and rising”

Cash mostly wrote about things he knew. His own experiences and feelings were his greatest inspiration for writing songs. “High Feet High and Rising” is not the only song that depicts his memories of his homeland. “The Pickin’ time” is another of Johnny’s creation where a story of a time when the cotton was ripe is described. His family had a farm in Dyess, Arkansas where they grew cotton. In “Five feet high and Rising”, Cash sings a song he wrote about his family’s experience during a 1937 flood when he was still a child. The title means the height of the water level and is the last height mentioned.

Some variants of this song have an additional stanza at the beginning where Cash explains that every bad thing is good for something. Although the flood took everything they had, destroyed their crops and nullified their work, it also brought a good thing just as his mother told him. The river fertilized their land and the cotton next year was the best they ever had. One can read a lot more about Johnny than is actually written in this preface.

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.

His mother meant a lot to him. She was the one who taught the children to sing while working in the fields. She passed her love for music to him and all of her children.

Because of her upbringing, he felt very close to God. Through his whole life he remained a strong believer; he even get himself baptized in the river Jordan. He sang a lot of gospels and he often involved his faith or God in his songs, which was not frequently in the music of the second half of the 20 th century. From this introduction and the whole song one can make out that his mother meant a lot to him. She was the one Johnny leaned on when in trouble, and she was the one he asked questions.

This song is in my opinion not appreciated enough. He wrote a unique masterpiece in his early career. The story about the flood is told in a special way since the character, obviously a child, is alternately asking one of his parents “How high's the water”. This part, when the child asks a question, is a refrain in which his parents are also answering his question. Johnny adds one more foot to the height of the rising water each time he sings it and in this way intensifies the mood. It is interesting that when he asks his father “How high’s the water, papa?” the latter always replies by “She said” and continues with the height. Why the father does that and not just simply answer “Two feet high and rising” for example like mother does I can only guess. Perhaps he was annoyed because the mother already answered him and he kept asking, or more likely they had windows too small for all to look outside and dad could only repeat what the mother already said. Nevertheless, the father always adds a stanza following the refrain and the story is practically his story. He tells us that the water is over the wheat and oats and they will have to use a boat to get to the road. Then we know that the water has washed away his bee hives and that the chickens found shelter in the trees, while the water reached up to the cow’s knees. Then he notices the bus and says it will take them to the train. The image of a train is frequent in all of Cash’s songs. It always means a solution, help, or an escape from difficulties. Finally, the father concludes that the train can not save them since the rails are under water and the only solution is to find higher ground.

Cash closes the song with “Well, it’s five feet high and risin’” so we never get to know how high the water actually got.

The song is a very simple one and because of its magnificent gradual upgrading of the height, it could be of good use in teaching young learners. Actually, Johnny Cash once

appeared on Sesame Street where he sang the song to Biff, “who used square-foot boxes to illustrate the song’s lyrics” (“Five feet high and rising”).

3.3 “The Man in Black”

“The Man in Black” is a protest song Johnny wrote to explain his dress code on stage. He released it in 1971 on his album of the same name.

He became known as The Man in Black since he always appeared in black on stage, which was highly unusual for a singer defined as a country artist. His long black coat did not give the impression of a country singer since everybody expected cowboy boots, sparkly clothes and rhinestones, and a cowboy hat on a country singer. He explained in an interview with Mike Douglas in March 1981 "The first concert I ever did in public I think was in a church in North Memphis, and the band and I were trying to find shirts alike, and the only thing we had alike was black. So, it'd be better for church anyway. So, it kinda felt good that day and we stuck with it" (“Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash interview”). He was special in every way and that must have been seen also on the outside.

People started to wonder why he dressed in black and the answer was given in the form of a song written by Johnny himself. It is a great song with wonderful lyrics. He not only explained the reason for his black clothes but also what he stands for, believes in and criticizes. It is much more than just a simple answer to the question of his clothing. In this one song he captures his whole career and all the themes he sings about, and says a lot about himself.

Black is by far the most symbolic of all colors. In many societies it represents death, mourning, funeral, evil, bad things in general, sadness, and night. People who dress in black on one hand do not want to stand apart from the majority and at the same time just because they do wear it they express something different. The color, when worn, is known as “you can not miss it if you wear it”.

The question “why dress in black?” in not only a question about his clothes but also a question about why he sings about minorities, about war and soldiers, about tragedies and lost lives in prison.

The song has eight quatrains and we can not talk about usual rhyme although some lines happen to rhyme like “down” and “town” in the second stanza.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,

Or “old” and “cold” in the fifth stanza.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old, For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,

From this point of view the sixth stanza is very interesting.

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.

The seventh stanza has a rhyme aabb.

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.

He also uses near rhyme with essential words “back” and “black”. The first two lines end with black and back, and he ends the fourth stanza with back-black and also ends the song with back-black.

Through the song he explains why he wears black clothes, and with the constantly repeated “I wear the black” he refers to a man who tries to stand out on the stage as also among common people. Yet this is only on the outside. I think he wants to stand out not as much as for himself or his publicity but because he wants to speak out for all who do not have any voice because it was taken away. He stands out for and sings about those who are poor, do not have jobs and prisoners, which again as in many of his songs about convicts, tries to excuse the fact that they were convicted of crimes because of circumstances- they are only “victims of the times”. Here he uses the personification “hopeless, hungry side of town” and in his style explains prisoners as “victims of the times” in which he ironically labels prisoners as a victims.

His frequent theme in songs is God, which he “interweaves” into this song. He says he wears the black also for those who do not know what the Bible holds, because they do not know that “road to happiness is through love and charity”. Cash felt a close bond to God which resulted in him being baptized in the river Jordan and, of course, in his songs since many of them were about God.

He does not forget to mention the sick and lonely old, ones who have changed because of using drugs and especially ones who were killed in war. He is no fool or utopian; he knows “there's things that never will be right” and “things need changin' everywhere you go” but only complaint will never help to solve problem; instead we should “stare to make a few things right” because until this we will “never see (him) wear a suit of white”. Later on he sings:

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 is really down-to-earth and with a permanent wish to help as he can- reminding his listeners about injustice through his songs.

This poem is in fact a critique of everything that goes wrong in a county famous for those who lived the American dream. Johnny Cash obviously had a really precise and detailed eye and even more critical voice. However, he was never direct in pointing fingers; rather he announced his disapproval in a subtle way but nevertheless thousands of people heard it.

3.4 “The Man Comes Around”

“The Man Comes Around” is the title song from Johnny Cash’s album American IV: The Man Comes Around , released in 2002. It was used in soundtracks of The Haunted, Generation Kill and Dawn of the Dead . The most powerful impression it gave in the latter, it suits it perfectly since the movie is about the end of the world as we know it. Johnny’s title plays with our minds. It warns us that He is coming, we should be aware and suggesting that it is already too late. Later on in the song he sings “when the man comes around” and only explains what it would be like.

Cash reveals in the album liner notes that the idea for the track came to him while he was traveling in England” and “coming to him during a dream. In it, Cash walks into Buckingham Palace and Queen Elizabeth looks at him and says, “Johnny Cash! You’re like a thorn tree in a whirlwind” (Urbanski 167).

Soon after he read large parts of the Bible and “it took him almost half a year to get the song right.” This was also one of his last songs written and obviously meant a lot to him since he was so perfectionistic about it. “I’ve wanted to write a spiritual that would be worthy of recording,” Cash said. “I worked really hard on this song… I finally realized where I was going with it- kind of a spiritual odyssey of the apocalypse” (Urbanski 167).

His study of the Bible is shown in many of the Biblical references he used throughout the song. Although he never even once mentioned the name of “the man” who will come around it is obvious that it is Jesus Christ’s second coming. “According to the song, when the man comes around, there will be judgment for some and salvation for others. A series of images depict the horror and confusion of that judgment day” (“The Man Comes Around”).

The opening of a song is a spoken citation from the Book of Revelation 6: 1-2 and describes the coming of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who are

messengers of four beasts. The latter are creatures which praise God in heaven and open the seals to release the Four Horsemen. They are named after powers or dangers they represent. The first horseman rides a white horse and is named Conquest. The second who is not mentioned in the song is on a red horse; he represents War since his mission is to take peace from earth; third is Pestilence on a black horse with balance in his hand and fourth one, mentioned in the last, also spoken stanza, is on a pale horse and he is the only one who is directly named in the Bible. His name is Death.

The musical part of the song begins with the singer narrating that there is a man, most probably Jesus, who passes judgment. According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , the phrase “There's a man going around taking names” is not a Bible reference, but refers to a song with the same title popularized by folk singer Leadbelly. The line “There'll be a golden ladder reaching down” refers to Jacob's dream of a ladder or stairwell from earth to heaven (Genesis 28:12) and God's subsequent blessing of Jacob (“The Man Comes Around”). Notice how he changes the tense from Present Simple to Future Simple? With this he asks the reader or listener to start questioning whether he already is here. Obviously The Man will provide an opportunity to be redeemed. Yet, the question is “Will you partake of that last offered cup or disappear into the potter’s ground when the man comes around?” Will we take what is being offered, i.e. God’s mercy or not. The metaphor with the potter also suggests that the potter is God who created us and his ground is the place where he gets his material from. And the decision is completely ours.

The dynamic part of the song is in the chorus and suggests that all the events will be accompanied by trumpets, which is also the title in the Book of Revelation, pipers and numerous angels singing. He actually makes us hear all of them through his music. The guitar and especially the piano in the background intensify the atmosphere and his voice is like tense elastic waiting to fire off.

Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum Voices calling, voices crying Some are born and some are dying.

In these lines he creates a really powerful image. All these masses of people are heading to God, who himself plays the kettledrum, and not everybody survives. Yet those who do are reborn in his kingdom. The line “It's Alpha and Omega's Kingdom come” is a Reference to the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ refers to himself as "the Alpha and the Omega" in Revelation (1:8; 21:6; 22:13). Alpha and Omega are also the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, meaning that Christ is the beginning and the end as it is suggested in churches where the letters are often written on the walls.

The intense and strong voice in a chorus than says that “the whirlwind is in the thorn trees”. As earlier explained, Queen Elizabeth II said these words to Johnny in his dreams. Cash later found the same reference in the Book of Revelation which inspired him to write the thirty-three lines long “The Man Comes Around”. The verse has as many explanations or meanings as there are listeners. The whirlwind is proof of God’s power. His anger in the form of a whirlwind is focused on the wicked. Until his fury is focused on the thorn trees, i.e. bad things, everything is alright. His calming, quiet voice reassures us with next verse “Virgins are all trimming their wicks.” It refers to a parable, told by Jesus in Matthew (25:7), about ten virgins who went towards Jesus when he returned. Five of them were ready because they had wicks and oil, and five of them were foolish, since they forgot the oil for the wicks and so returned for it and by that time missed Jesus’ return and celebration. Some people will be ready for Jesus’ second coming and some will not.

"It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is the line that follows. It is taken from Acts (26:14) where the apostle Paul refers to the time when a voice from heaven knocked him to the ground. “And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” The word “pricks” means a point or goad. “A goad is a stick with a pointed piece of iron fastened to the end of it. This instrument is used to prod the oxen on when they are plowing. When a stubborn ox attempted to kick back against the goads (pricks), he would actually wound himself” (“Question Box: "Kicking against the pricks"”).

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” is a proverb that was “often used to teach the lesson that it is foolish to rebel against a powerful authority. Any attempt to do so would result in much greater difficulties.” (“Question Box: "Kicking against the pricks"”) Saul resisted the Christian way of life and was so punished. The parable fits perfectly in a story about a time when the Man will come around. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds also released an album entitled Kicking Against the Pricks .

“In the line, "Till Armageddon, no Shalam, no Shalom," Armageddon refers to the climactic battle between good and evil in Revelation 16:16. Shalom means "peace" in Hebrew. Shalam might reference Salaam, meaning "peace" in Arabic, but could more likely refer to "Shalam" the equivalent word in the Aramaic language spoken by Judean contemporaries of Jesus (and in the Syriac language by Iraqi Assyrian Christians today)” (“The Man Comes Around”).

Ironically, there will be no peace before the great battle, but after the judgment God will show the path to the believers (“the father hen will call his chickens home”) and the wise will bow before Him and put “golden crowns” at his feet.

Cash, with his deep voice, explains that we should not change. Everybody from the unjust, the righteous, to the filthy should stay as they are. After all, it is our choice who we are. Another reference to Revelation (22:11):

Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still

The chorus is then repeated as if he wanted to remind us that we will suffer but there is no point of resisting since God will know everything because, as suggested in the last line “in measured hundred weight and penny pound”; we all be judged when He comes around.

Cash started the song with the first rider on a white horse. He concludes the song in spoken form, again a quotation from Revelation (6:7, 8):

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts... And I looked and behold, a pale horse And his name that sat on him was Death And Hell followed with him

The pale horse is the fourth horse, and the rider is the only one who is named in the Bible- Death. It is an amazing choice to end with such powerful words which no one can forget easily.

I believe we all think about death at some point of our lives but this concept is rarely or, I can freely say, never presented so majestically and brilliantly as it in this song. Johnny wrote this song one or two years before his death and it is as if he had foreseen it coming.

There are not a lot of modern American poems as great as this one. Cash stepped out from that image of a singer of easy lyrics long before, but with this one he proved not only to be a magnificent singer but perhaps even greater poet. He literally played with words. The teasing title does not have the word “when” and therefore says much more. There are plenty of metaphors (like father hen, chickens, whirlwind in the thorn trees, alpha and omega, cup), and allusions. He played with tenses. Once he uses present and next future so you never know if He is already here or on the way or still far from here. He created images of gigantic sizes. I just love what he evokes with them. Listening to “The Man Comes Around” is like opening a book with pictures singing. It is all in one. Imagining the horsemen, the great collision of this poem is like watching the battle of the Lord of the Rings . One cannot listen to it and stay unmoved. This poem changes you and makes you hum the words forever.

It is perfect song to say goodbye, to say I was here, I am here and I will be here forever. It is completely his and can be interpreted in many ways. It is not only religious, it do not only says that the greatest war of them all is still to come, the apocalypse can not be avoided. It also sends a message that we should not sit and wait while things fall apart but be part of it, and make a difference before it is too late.

4 THE BALLADS

4.1 Features of the ballad

The term “ballad” has changed a lot over the centuries. The first known version was the ballad or ballade form in the 14 th and 15 th centuries which meant a French verse that could be set to music. A century after, a ballad referred to a song that accompanied dance. In the 17 th century the word generally referred to a broadside or broadsheet ballad that were printed and sold in English streets. By the 19 th century “ballad had come to refer to the sort of narrative verse we associate with ballads today” (Zweig).

According to the COLLINS Cobuild English Language Dictionary, the word ballad refers to “a long song or poem which tells a story in simple language and which often has lines which are repeated at the end of each verse; or a slow, romantic, popular song” (96).

A ballad is a poem usually set to music; thus, it often is a story told in a song. Any myth form may be told as a ballad, such as historical accounts or fairy tales in verse form. It usually has foreshortened, alternating four-stress lines ("ballad meter") and simple repeating rhymes, often with a refrain (“Ballad”).

In the 20th Century, “ballad” took on the meaning of a popular song “especially of a romantic or sentimental nature” (“Ballads”).

The traditional ballad can be thus described as a poem that tells a story. Action in the story is largely developed through dialogue, or narrated by a 3 rd person; tragic situations are often presented in a simple way. Slight attention is paid to characterization or description. It involves incidents which usually happen to ordinary, common people. It is often based on true stories. It definitely has a simple metrical structure and sentence structure.

Usually it consists of four lines, rhyming abcb with the first and third lines carrying four accented syllables and the second and fourth carrying three. There is great variation in the number of unstressed syllables. The rhyme is often approximate, with assonance and consonance frequently appearing. Incremental repetition is common. It is often sung to a modal melody and derives from an oral tradition (Preminger 906).

4.2 “The Ballad of Ira Hayes”

“The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is a song from Cash’s album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian that was released in 1964. The album is a concept one, since the songs mainly focus on the history of and problems facing Native Americans in United States (“Bitter Tears”). Cash in his younger days believed he was one-quarter Cherokee but even when he found out he had no Native American ancestry, he did not lose his empathy and compassion for Natives.

The song was written by Peter La Farge, and Johnny Cash was not the only one who sang it. Bob Dylan’s and Townes Van Zandt’s versions are slightly different from Cash’s but still contain the same message about Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from the Pima Reservation in Arizona.

The ballad has fifteen stanzas mostly consisting of four lines. The refrain has typical ballad rhyme abcb and so do most of the stanzas. The author tells us the story about what happened to Ira Hayes from a 1 st person point of view. The initial stanza is also a refrain which on one hand repeats facts about Ira, that he was a drunkard, an Indian, and a Marine who participated in WW2, and on the other hand the fact that you can call Ira whatever you like but he will not answer because he is dead. The persona then invites us to gather around him and listen to the story. Ira was a young Marine who participated in the flag rising on Iwo Jima which was documented on camera. He became well-known because of this photo and because the American Military used him for publicity purposes. Later on, he could not escape from

adoration, tons of letters and visitors who called him a hero. “ He began to drink heavily resulting from well-meaning friends offering drinks in their appreciation of his Heroism ” which also ended his life in 1955 (Taylor).

Flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945 (“The Flag Raisers”).

He speaks nothing but all well about Native Americans (indigenous people) and nicely mentions that “a thousand years the water grew Ira's peoples' crops” alluding to the long presence of Natives in North America in contrast to the short residence of white people. The listener can get to know Ira in detail through the ballad. On one hand, as presented in the refrain, he is a drunkard, an Indian and a Marine, and on the other hand his qualities are pictured in other stanzas. Ira was clearly a very forgiving man since he fought a war for those who took his land and caused hunger among his tribe. He was obviously a good soldier to stay alive among twenty-seven out of 250 men and respected to raise the symbol “old glory” of the USA.

The song is full of imagery, like the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, or later back home where

They'd let him raise the flag and lower it like you'd throw a dog a bone!

The exaggerated enumeration “wined and speeched and honored” has the additional effect of inflating the publicity.

But he was just a Pima Indian No water, no home, no chance.

This is a criticism of the negative status of the Natives. Without the water, which symbolizes life itself, and home that is the essence of every social being, they stand no chance of surviving. What is the worst however, is the fact that even among his own people nobody cared for his actions. He went to war to help his family, his “tribe”, and to fight for not what is called America but mainly for the land that was taken away from him, for the “Indian dance”.

Irony is often used in Cash’s songs and “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is not an exception. The song says that “Two inches of water in a lonely ditch/ Was a grave for Ira Hayes” “And his ghost is lyin' thirsty/ In the ditch where Ira died”. Body was lying in water but his ghost was probably thirsty because it had a hangover. In the story an Indian fights for those who took his pride which brings him fame and glory that cause people to buy him drinks and so him becoming drunkard who dies at the age of twenty-two. The tragic ending of a hero in this song is typical for a ballad.

The interesting thing here is that there are several varieties that differ one from another in a few words. It looks like Cash was inventing, even while singing. This ballad is interesting because of three things. Johnny loved to speak up for minorities. He was often singing about the Native Americans, maybe because he simply wanted to stand up for them, fight for their rights or perhaps from personal reason such as his belief he was a descendant of a Native American. The second point of this song is the massage about his feelings concerning the war; he obviously disapproves of it. The

third is him making fun of Americans because they despise Ira and also mock him but in fact they made him go to war because they took his land, they wanted war, they made him a hero and they made him a drunk.

4.3 “Give My Love to Rose”

Sings Hank Williams is an album by Cash, released in 1960. As one can read in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contrary to what the title might suggest, only the first four out of the twelve tracks on the album were written by Williams himself, with most of the others being versions of Cash's self-penned songs (Sings Hank Williams ).

“Give my love to Rose” is another ballad written by Cash. The man who inspired him to write this poem, while he was playing a concert in prison, was a prisoner sentenced to death who asked him to take a letter to his wife. The song is actually a conversation between a man passing by and an ex-prisoner who clearly does not have enough strength to make it home. Through the dying man’s speech, we get to know as much about the prisoner as about the passerby. As Johnny was inspired by a real event, he can also be the persona who is passing by. The first stanza

I found him by the railroad track this morning I could see that he was nearly dead I knelt down beside him and I listened Just to hear the words the dying fellow said could also suggest the presence of a saint, or God himself. The persona is definitely a great person, almost like Mother Teresa, since he sees a dying man but does not just pass as if like nothing happened, but waits and kneels down to listen to him. The

convict then tells his story about being in prison and that he is headed home to his Rose and his child. He is well aware he will not make it and that is why he asks the passerby, who he names “mister”, to take his money and love to Rose and the message to his boy. In doing this, he reveals to us that the persona is a trustworthy man and at the same time that he really is a desperate man.

The song has the typical characteristics of a ballad. It consists of six quatrains where the rhyme is abcb . The action is revealed through a dialogue, although only the prisoner is speaking; is a sad story with a tragic ending that happens to a common man. Cash narrates it in a simple way with simple diction, as in many of his songs. He also often depicts the “good” in every man, especially in a convict who did his time.

4.4 “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”

This song was written by Cash and than recorded in 1958. He once said that he got the tune from an old Irish folk song, but it does not sound really Irish. Yet he was not the only one who recorded it; there are U2’s, Faron Young’s, and Steve Earl’s versions too.

The song does not have the typical form of the ballad as the previous ones had. There are 10 stanzas with a three line refrain repeated five times. They do not have an ordinary structure, since their length varies from four to seven lines and the typical ballad rhyme abcb rarely appears.

The narrator is 3 rd person omniscent and again reveals to us a tragic story about a cowboy who heads to town although his mother feels something bad will happen when he is still at home. The refrain which follows the first stanza is basically the mother’s request not to take his guns with him. This contains a really soft and warning tone by using the word “son” and his name, Bill.

Don't take your guns to town son Leave your guns at home Bill Don't take your guns to town

The irony is that these words are spoken by his mother only twice in the first half of the poem. Later on he hears the words in his head when he is riding to town and in a bar, but the last refrain is actually him repeating his mother’s words while dying.

He heads to town, despite his mother’s words, saying he is a man while kissing her goodbye, which puts his statement in question. It is slightly ironic to consider oneself a man and then kissing his mom. Later on he comforts her with his knowledge of shooting and the fact he would not shoot without reason, which really is a bad consolation for a mother.

When he enters the bar, he orders “strong liquor to calm his shaking hand” and to convince himself he is a man. Why would he need anything for calming if he had no intention to use the guns? And why does he need to convince himself he is a man? You are or you are not a man. Obviously he wanted to show off, but did not have what it takes to do something every cowboy eventually does- to kill a man. I think he knew he could get killed the moment his mother told him to leave his guns at home. Why else would he need a drink and why else would his mother’s words echo in his head when some cowboy started to “laugh him down” if not because of his fear of loosing his life.

In the last stanza before the refrain we get to know how quickly the cowboy shot him and that the crowd gathered around the dying young boy who repeated mother’s words. Ironically he rode with a smile into town where he was later shot.

The two themes that interweave are the love of a mother for her son and his need to confirm that he is a man. The young cowboy has a loving mother, who probably cares too much on one side, and manliness on the other. Unfortunately he sees no other way of becoming a man than in a shooting match.

Johnny again did an excellent work not only when writing but also when performing this song. He starts the song slowly and when he utters the words “Don’t take your guns to town” he sings like he would be singing a lullaby. By doing this, he instantly pictures the image of the mother. In the refrain he also slows the pace down and uses lower pitch than in the rest of the song. It really is a great and touching song because of the singer who knows when and how to use the instruments and his voice to enhance the atmosphere.

4.5 “Delia’s Gone”

“Delia’s Gone” lyrics are from an old folk song usually called “Delia's Gone” and could be in every way a typical Johnny Cash song, full of black humor and regret, which could in the hands of another singer turn out to be absolutely brutally painful. However, Cash made a well recognized and popular masterpiece out of a traditional murder ballad.

Murder ballads are a sub-genre of ballads, and they typically narrate the details of a crime, whether mythic or true, followed by either the escape or capture of the murderer. In typical classic murder ballads, a lover, usually a woman, is killed over jealousy. Frequently the ballad ends with the murderer in jail or on his way to the scaffold, occasionally with a plea for the listener not to copy the evils committed by the singer (“Murder ballad”).

Ulrika O’Brien explains “that apparently the historical model” for Delia “was a 14-year- old girl who didn't want her boyfriend exerting ownership over her or telling her what to do, whose teenage boyfriend then just spontaneously shot her” (O’Brien).

Johnny’s voice speaks for the murderer who now regrets the shooting in which he killed Delia, his girlfriend. He deliberately uses anthithesis when he juxtaposes the lines

If I hadn't have shot poor Delia I'd-a had her for my wife and makes the listener think about the message of the song, because it is obviously not about Delia. There must be something special about the woman to make him marry her; most likely she is very beautiful, but at the same time annoying that he killed her. The refrain follows each stanza, telling us she is really gone

Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

The insane boyfriend then explains that he met Delia in her shop in Memphis where he tied her to the chair. He explains that she was mean and she made him shoot her, which is a very paltry reason. Yet, first shot did not kill her and it was, ironically, “hard to watch her suffer” therefore he shot her again out of pity, of course. The most ironic part of the song is definitely that he calls a jailer for help, since he is hearing Delia’s tapping and therefore can not sleep. In the last stanza, according to Johnny’s habit, he serves us with a choice in which, I think, he suggests not to make his mistake again.

So if you woman's devilish You can let her run Or you can bring her down and do her Like Delia got done

Johnny Cash is able to sing a murder ballad in such a way that you believe every word. He can tell stories of the dark and sinister with regret and anger in his voice. In many ways, he makes this song about killing more or less palatable.

Mr. Cash sang some other murder ballads besides “Delia’s Done”, like the traditional “Long Black Veil”, “Frankie’s Man Johnny”, and “Banks of The Ohio”, which entitled “Dravski most” was also performed by Slovenian singer Neca Falk. His specialty was to awaken sympathy for the criminal in a listener.

5 HUMOR AND IRONY IN POEMS

Cash had an ability to express himself simply but most interestingly, in a funny way. All the stories he sang about in his songs like “Mean Eyed Cat”, “A Boy named Sue”, “Delia’s Gone”, “One Piece at a Time”, “Beans for Breakfast”, and even covered versions like Loudon Wainwright III’s “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” were in fact very sad, but his use of language, his extraordinary voice and melody gave these songs another thing in common- humor.

5.1 “Mean Eyed Cat” and “Beans for Breakfast”

There are two versions of this song. The first recording is from 1955 and has the second stanza but lacks the final which was added in 1996 on the album Unchained .

When you listen to the first version, you can not help thinking that something is missing. The lyric is funny, that extra second stanza is full of black humor, yet it is like listening to a shy child singing. It is interesting to see how the singer changed through his life and his career. His first version was slow, peaceful, and almost dull. Fifty years later, at the age of 64, he becomes a teenager, considering his energy. I guess he is not a typical grandfather such as I know. His second version is fast, lively, more convincing, and rocking. The two versions are virtually like night and day.

The title of the song is not typical of a country song; someone might expect it’s about a cat. Well, it is not about one but a cat is the cause of the story. It is actually a typical man-and-wife quarrel over spending money for unnecessary things. The protagonist is a woman who spends all of the speaker’s money for a hat that is worth ten times less, and cat food for a cat that he obviously does not like, because he thinks it is mean. Funny, isn’t it, if one pictures a mean cat?

He cleverly uses black humor in the second stanza.

When I give her ten more dollars for a one way ticket She was mad as she could be Then I bet ten more that if she ever left She'd come a-crawlin' back to me

In the second stanza of the new version the speaker realizes that his “cotton pickin' thing” is no more in their bed.

The humor in the song is mainly in the way of the story-telling and allusions about the southern way of life. Cash, for example, says “I put on my overalls” and then heads to town determined to bring her back. On his way he meets an old man who “spits his tobacco” and says to him “I'll be dad blamed I b’lieve I did see her leavin' on the east- bound train.” Not pronouncing full words and especially leaving out “g” is typical of the southern way of talking.

The older version ends with him buying a ticket for the train and then realizing no matter how broke he is, he will have to buy another ticket for his wife when he finds her. He leaves an open ending; we do not know whether he finds her or not.

The earlier version has two additional stanzas where we can see that he was so desperate, he went to his mother-in-law to ask her where his wife was. Then he found her working in a pub and they both returned home, right after she bought herself a ticket with her tips, and they lived happily ever after, with their cat.

The theme of a wife leaving her man and him becoming incapable of living by himself is also represented few decades later in the year 1991 with the song “Beans for Breakfast,” which is also very humorous.

The wife leaves while her husband is watching television. The funny thing is that he does not notice that she is gone because of the TV. Later he sees her ticket for the flight

and sarcastically remarks that he did not know it was so expensive. He already knows what he can expect for breakfast. The voice of Johnny is very interesting because he starts to sing with a happy voice as if he wants to be funny, but when he comes to the last line he changes his tone to a sad one when he sings

Beans for breakfast once again, hard to eat 'em from the can.

The next stanza begins with the announcement that he does not have clean underwear anymore and that he is “a hungry nasty lonesome man” which is like an echo through the song since he repeats it in the first line of each stanza just to emphasize how miserable he is. It also contributes to the humor of the song because it is so pathetic. He acts as if he can not do anything about it, but there is physically nothing wrong with him actually. In the third stanza he begs for her just to “wash the dishes” and that he caught the flu because of the open window. Later on, he tells us that crows shit on his window sills. Again, Johnny changes the tone to a happy one and sings of the “histoplasmosis” that the crows probably have. Yes, it is a very funny thing when you listen to a song about a miserable man and then he comes up with a medical expression. The funniest part is definitely the beginning of the fourth stanza when he tells us that plastic forks are really cheap in “Plastic forks are a dime a dozen.” Well, he needs them for eating beans and he is so lazy that he would rather buy plastic ones than wash real ones. Then he can hardly drag himself to the mailbox and when he opens the only mail he got he draws the conclusion that the plane ticket was not as expensive as he thought, at least if he compares it with the bill he got from the doctor. The last stanza speaks for itself.

Blue tick mattress cold and greasy, I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man The house burned down from the fire that I built, in your closet by mistake After I took all them pills, but I got out safe in my duck head overalls Beans for breakfast once again, I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man.

How is it possible for one to light a fire in the closet by mistake? The hero is now without a home but safe and sound dressed in his “duck head overalls.” He will have beans for breakfast, once again.

From these two songs, we can think only the worst of men. They are incapable of living by themselves and incapable of taking care of themselves. As soon as the wife is off, the man is hungry, dirty, drunk and crying. Irony, wit and satire in almost tragic ordinary situations and also the change of his voice, the change in the speed of singing and pronunciation, and using parodies of his southern way of life and speaking, are instruments that Johnny Cash uses to achieve humor in his songs. He also uses a lot of imagery, from tactile to visual.

5.2 “A Boy Named Sue”

I chose this song because it has an interesting story behind it and because it is one of the funniest songs recorded by Johnny Cash. This country song is, according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “written by Shel Silverstein and popularly sung by Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash was at the height of his popularity when he recorded this song live at San Quentin State Prison in California” (“A Boy Named Sue”). Maybe he chose the prison to be the first place to present his new piece of music to imply that children with weird names could easily end up in there. It also says that it “became Cash's biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending three weeks at #2 in 1969; it also topped the country music and adult contemporary charts that same year.” It is a well written song by Shel indeed, then again a piece only a master could bring to live, energetic and believable.

The song tells us a story about a boy who seeks his father to got revenge for what he did. He says his father’s only mistake was not leaving him and his mother, but naming him Sue, which traditionally is a girl’s name. He decides to kill his father since he is the reason that everybody teased him. Thus he became a strong young man who knew pretty well how to stand up for himself.

At the climax of the song the fearsome young man finds and opposes his father at an “old saloon”. Cash’s amazing drama ability is shown when he very lively sings “My name is Sue. How do you do? Now you gonna die!” After a very vividly described conflict in which his father “kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile”, they stood opposed to each other with guns in their hands. It was then when the father admitted “that the name was given to him as an act of love: because he knew he would not be there for his son, Sue's father gave him that name to make sure that he grew up strong. Learning this, Sue forgives his father and they have an emotional reconciliation” (“A Boy Named Sue”). Sue ends his story with a powerful statement that explains his feelings.

And if a ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!

The song has ten stanzas, each six lines long and with an interesting rhyme aabccb . The only exception is the fifth stanza that has an additional line saying “Now you’re gonna die!” and it marks a dramatic climax in the story which will have a comic last four lines. The author unfolds a range of emotions in the song and describes a typical situation and environment with his amazing ability to produce scene-setting lines like “Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July and I just hit town and my throat was dry” and the particular violence of “he come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.” We witness the brawl in detail and typical scene with two men facing and aiming guns at each other. The language he uses is also the language of common people like gonna, gotta, ya. He also uses metaphors, like “snake” for his dad and enumerations with alliteration like “big and bent and gray and old” and “in the mud and the blood and the beer” to cause additional affect on words. Johnny serves us also with idiosyncratic humor of “I threw down my gun and I called him my pa, and he called me his son” to the final line.

The core story of the song was inspired by humorist Jean Shepherd, a close friend of Shel Silverstein, who was often taunted as a child because of his feminine-sounding name.The title might have been inspired by the male attorney Sue K. Hicks of

Madisonville, Tennessee, a friend of John Scopes, who agreed to be prosecutor in the Scopes Trial. Sue was named after his mother, who died after giving birth to him. However, while this may have inspired Silverstein to write the poem, there may have been another reason why Johnny Cash recorded it. Johnny Cash was a fan of popular western novelist, Zane Grey, whose first name at birth was “Pearl” (“A Boy Named Sue”).

This song affected many singers in the following generations. There are quite a number of cover versions of the song from Dutch, German, Belgian to American artists. There is also a band named A boy named Sue, the title of a documentary film, and a part of a title of a book. Allusions to “A Boy named Sue” can also be found in books such as Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series and even in animated cartoons such as Jimmy Neutron and Dexter’s Laboratory.

Marion Tierney on the internet even discusses Cash’s proposed “paradigm shift in the field of developmental psychology.” According to Mr. Tierney, he used his song to present two hypotheses. First says that “a child with an awful name might grow up to be a relatively normal adult” and second “the parent who inflicted the name does not deserve to be executed” (Tierney).

5.3 “One Piece at a Time”

Johnny Cash recorded the humorous rockabilly song “One Piece at a Time” in 1976 and although it was written by Wayne Kemp, it is typical of Cash’s humor and he could well be the author himself.

The story is told from the point of view of a slightly unstable worker who works in Detroit in a car factory. He happens to be working on an assembly line where Cadillacs are put together. He is well aware that with his salary he will never be able to afford such a prestige car and a quirky and funny thing comes to his mind- until he will be retired he will steal pieces one piece at a time and finally put them together so he can

drive his own Cadillac. He will put small parts in his lunch box and large ones in his friend’s mobile home to avoid being caught. The sad part of the story, Cash’s stories often if not always have sad, realistic side, is the fact that this man is working really hard his whole life but still does not have enough money to buy a Cadillac. He was not caught and the problems started while putting parts together- nothing matched since it took years to get all the pieces and models were constantly changing. The final product would be like the one in the next picture.

When his wife sees it, Cash imitates her voice really well, she knows instantly about the disaster but does not want to ruin the happiness in husband’s eyes and says “Honey take me for a spin.” Sadly everybody laughs except at court. Obviously he got caught after all and here the sad part sneaks in again. A superficial listener might even not notice because of Johnny’s hilarious words that follow: 'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.

What follows is a chorus that goes:

I got it one piece at a time And it didn't cost me a dime

You'll know it's me when I come through your town I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild

The rest of the song sounds just like he went crazy. Funny allusions follow in a spoken part.

Yow, Red Ryder This is the Cottonmouth In the psychobilly Cadillac

Red Ryder is a fictional cowboy from the 1940s and a funny way of naming someone. However, considering he is naming himself Cottonmouth, which is also a character from comics, a super villain, he probably in a way provokes Red Ryder. The psychobilly Cadillac is a perfect expression since psychobilly is a genre of rock music and a mixture of elements of rock, punk, rockabilly and probably some other genres.

If in the previous stanza Johnny slowed down the pace and spoke, what follows is intensifying the speed when enumerating the models. He is in an awkward position when somebody asks him what model the car is. Then he starts enumerating: “It's a '49- '50-'51-'52-'53-'54-'55-'56-'57-'58-'59 automobile.”

The idea of putting pieces together is very funny by itself but the song is hilarious owing to some phrases like psychobilly Cadillac, situations like stealing parts in a lunch box, putting them together and finding out that nothing matches, etc. However, a big share in humorousness is added by Cash’s voice, way of pronouncing, and great ability to perform.

5.4 Murder songs

Johnny Cash chose his recordings for three theme albums entitled Love, God and Murder that truly contain very best of The Man in Black. They represent a definite career overview and insight of his soul, of what he truly was, and besides that they cover a full range of emotions. I chose to present some of the songs from the Murder album since they tell the most about him. They are alternately sad or wickedly funny, despairing or joyous, full of bitterness and rage or love and happiness. I chose them because of the statement Cash gave “Here is my personal selection of my recordings of songs of robbers, liars and murderers. These songs are just for listening and singing. Don't go out and do it” (“Love, God & Murder”).

Many of the songs The Man in Black sang in general involved a crime, either directly or indirectly. The most represented crime in his songs is definitely murder, but he never sang about the cruelty itself, or about blood. He always introduced the murder through the criminal’s regretful point of view wanting to teach a lesson. However, he had a magical power to combine any crime he wanted with humor and to arouse the feeling of being sorry for the criminal.

In “Joe Bean” the author plays with a destiny of a 20 year old boy named Joe. Mr. Cash performed this song at his famous concert in Folsom Prison in 1968. The earlier version of this song has a special introduction where Cash asks the audience questions to make this poem alive, and real, as if it really happened. The irony is that this sort of a story could well happened to someone from his prison audience. He says:

Last time, last time we were here at Folsom Prison they were hanging Joe Bean. Is Joe still here? Joe Bean? Hang the son of a bitch anyway, right?

Then the story, partly spoken and partly sung, is presented to the listener. It is set at the end of the 19 th century since the hanging and the Santa Fe robbery, although there were

so many robberies that this could not be sufficient evidence. Joe Bean is being hanged for killing a man in Arkansas, but ironically, he has never been to Arkansas and sadly, today is his birthday. His mother is asking the governor for mercy because she knows he did not do it. In fact, at the time of the murder Joe Bean was participating in something completely different, in a robbery at Santa Fe, which is obviously a very bad alibi since he would probably be sentenced to death anyway. To complete the irony, the governor calls him and wishes him happy birthday. In later versions, Johnny and June at the end said Happy Birthday while the sound of gallows is heard in the background.

Another song on the Murder album that also combines humor and crime is “Austin Prison”. Here the man reveals his story- he committed a crime but did not pay time in prison. There was a sheriff who arrested him while he was breaking into a school on Sunday. Cash very obviously described the moment by using anaphora and alliteration to intensify the character’s disappointment when caught.

His steel grey eyes were blazing when he saw me His hand was on his gun when he rode up

The sheriff instantly accused him of killing a woman and took him to Austin. The next day he tied him with “plow line” which gives a funny image of plow line and the criminal instead of a horse or donkey. Then he finally brought him to Austin where the crowd was already waiting for him but instead of hanging, he was put in jail and the key was thrown away. One then finds out that he had a trial and was found guilty. He even had to show the place where he did it. Yet in the last stanza, the prisoner quite happily announced that he was far from prison since the jailer was his friend and handed him a file. Now he wittily wishes that there were a lot of friendly people between him and Austin and most of all “miles and miles and miles and miles and miles”. The singer’s voice then slowly fades into the distance. The end in particular is a humorous masterpiece.

6 SONGS THAT JOHNNY CASH INTERPRETED

While at the beginning of his career he was mostly the author of his songs but also as is expected of someone who recently started his career he covered versions of already established singers such as Lead Belly, Merle Travis and Hank Williams.

He interpreted music by many famous musicians no matter if they were his idols from childhood, his contemporaries, or he was once their idol himself. He loved music from just about every era, no matter the genre just as long as he felt the lyrics. He took the song and he added an extraordinary voice and made it his. Many times his version of a song is considered an original because he was the one who made it famous.

Among the artists he interpreted are big names such as Nick Lowe, Leonard Cohen, Merle Travis, Simon and Garfunkel, The Eagles, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Sting, The Beatles, Loudon Wainwright III, Kris Kristofferson, The Rolling Stones, Nick Cave, Neil Diamond, and Nine Inch Nails.

The album American IV was the one I first listened to. And I was amazed. What a voice, what lyrics. Although he wrote only few songs by himself, all others on the album are covers, he did not only reinvent them but claimed them. He ripped them apart and joined them together as he was the only person possible to write them. He was one of the best interpreters who pervaded his voice and personality into each masterpiece he touched. Yet one asked oneself why he covered songs that are quite old and everybody knew and which have famous performers. Well, I think this can be done only by a great person. And the man who comes to the stage all in black and says “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” definitely is such a person. It takes quite some courage to cover such songs and it takes a talent and renown to make them better than original. But how does he do it? I am not the only one who asks the question, Nick Reynolds also asked it in a review of the album The Man Comes Around where he wrote “Take a hoary old chestnut like ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'': You've heard it so many times you're not just sick of it but are

completely numb to any impact it might have. But yet here comes Mr. Cash with that familiar wobbly, rough as torn sandpaper voice and yes, the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and you're on the verge of tears, such is the emotional power he can still generate” (Reynolds).

However, it was later fairly ironic of Cash, the great innovator, to do covers of songs by people who he himself once inspired. It is possible of me to be partial but face it- Hurt makes everyone feel in their spines and makes their flesh creep if Cash is the one who performs it.

Johnny made every song his own and this was done due to his special gift only. His incredible ability helped him to take something great and to simplify it, and yet at the same time he retained and even intensified its grandeur.

6.1 “One” (U2)

Johnny took all the extra effects and maintained only a guitar or two. He sang his famous songs with his deep majestic voice and a legend was born.

“One” is a song that carries different messages depending on the listener and their situation. Some might find it their love story- two people who love and also hurt each other not knowing how to treat the love they get. Then again some might see it as a song about the brotherhood of mankind. Even Bono, the lead singer of U2, offered an unclear explanation of the lyrics, saying “It is a song about coming together, but it's not the old hippie idea of 'Let's all live together.' It is, in fact, the opposite. It's saying, We are one, but we're not the same. It's not saying we even want to get along, but that we have to get along together in this world if it is to survive. It's a reminder that we have no choice” (“One”).

The only choice we have is to love this song and its message. We are all people, human beings but it would be insane to expect everybody is the same. Thank God and evolution for what they did. Our world is colorful even if some want to be colorblind.

We’re one but we’re not the same We’ll hurt each other and we’re doin’ it again

We should stop molesting each other and stop looking for mistakes in each other. We all should accept that we are not alike but we still are all humans. You ask me to enter But then you make me crawl.

The lyric is absolutely wonderful and a real delicacy in poetry. When performed by U2 it is alive, lively, filled with energy and sounds of different instruments. Johnny Cash’s interpretation takes all these from it and gives much more. The song became manifestation of love to human kind in general. It possess a much more powerful message trough his voice since he is an old artist and if one thinks of him, what he went trough, his own experience one can not resist of believing him.

I suppose a lot, I really can not say all, of the singers sing because they want to speak out, to change something. But music is business, and if one is a successful performer that means he is a star and definitely earns a lot of money. Music means their means for living. U2 without any doubt made a lot of money with this one. What about Johnny? He was close to seventies when he recorded it, money did not matter anymore. Success and fame did not matter, because he had all of it. He recorded it because he felt each and every word, and wanted us to hear what he hears in the song. He dropped out all the unnecessary instruments and left it plain with two guitars.

This way, with his voice in the front, it is much easier to hear his deep voice and think about what he says. And it is undoubtedly easier to believe his exhausted voice since you know he feels the song, he really feels every word he utters.

6.2 “Hurt” (Nine Inch Nails)

"To hear that Johnny was interested in doing my song was a defining moment in my life's work," Trent Reznor said. He is the real author of the song and also a metal singer, songwriter and creative talent for the band Nine Inch Nails. Being labeled as a drug addict, rebel, and an antichrist he hesitated to give permission to Cash to use his song since the latter was a Country legend, and highly respected among Christians.

Cash released, what would later become an instant hit all around the world, in 2003. The Country Music Awards gave it “Single of the Year” and Cash’s “Hurt” music video was awarded best video of the year by the Grammy awards. Since then there are constant polemics unwinding about which one is better- Trent’s original or Cash’s cover.

I am not here to judge although it is the truth that everybody has their own opinion and so have I. Trent gave self in the song, he wrote and experienced word by word and no wonder he said “Johnny Cash cover felt like someone kissing your girlfriend” (“Trent Reznor”). It really must be a terrible experience to hear an older musician doing your song, at the same time making it world-known and by this unintentionally making it their own. Many who hear Cash cover for the first time do not know that it is in fact NIN’s song probably because it fits him perfectly and the lyric so much resembles Cash’s life in the past.

According to the interpretation of “Hurt” I believe, more than ever, that if you asked a hundred people what it means they would give you a hundred or even more different answers. This number definitely doubles if they apply to both versions. To me it is about the good and evil in each of us, how our past actions influence our lives and about regret as also about transience of life. Most of all it is a profound reflection about life.

“Hurt” starts with a calm yet impressive melody on an acoustic guitar accompanied with piano. Cash’s signature voice utters the first phrase “I hurt myself today, to see if I steel feel” and paints an image of an old man checking if he is still alive on the inside by inflicting physical pain. Sometimes one’s feelings easily become desensitized because

of too much of pain and physical pain is inflicted to see if anything at all can be felt. Hopeless attempt to kill the memories and evil inside by misusing drugs leads the man who sings to question “What have I become?” which is followed by “My sweetest friend”. Johnny is asking this question someone who is really close to him, even closer than his June is. When his daughter Tara once asked him if he ever had an imaginary friend he replied “Yes. Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight” (Turner 4). The outcome of this fight is a state of mind where Johnny finds out there is little left of him, since Cash prevailed. However, Cash is a part of him which he nor can not nor wants to deny. While he was striving for fame and fortune he has neglected and disappointed all the good inside of him and consequently everybody he cared for. However this is not the only thing he is referring to since I believe that by “Everyone I know goes away in the end” he also suggests to the transience of life to which even he is not immune to. He speaks of his “empire of dirt” as if Cash and the ones who envy him could have all what he has. Yet this empire was built from the wrong reasons and in fact is not worth anything. “I will let you down, I will make you hurt” is a warning Johnny sends to beloved so that they would be prepared when he will hurt them-we most hurt those who we most love, I suppose.

The only word Cash changed from the original lyrics is written in “I wear this crown of shit.” Instead of “shit” he wears a “crown of thorns”, suggesting on the one hand that this fame is not what it looks like and in fact hurts him too and on the other hand he creates, for him a very typical, allusion of Jesus who suffered to save others. However, this crown is a result of all the lies that the evil part of him made in the past and merely perpetuates the “empire of dirt”. The despair kicks in when he realizes he cannot change the past and restore hopes and dreams, nor his own nor the ones of loved ones.

But then again he is eager to fight back. Optimistically he does not want to give up without a fight. Years went by and he has lost the feeling that all he did was wrong, now he proudly stands up and says “You are someone else, I am still here”. Only part of him changed but the good part still stays the same. Johnny has not changed he is still here, prepared to make a difference.

He wishes he could start again, somewhere else, far away from where he stands now. If he could do that he would make sure that he would not loose the best of him and he could somehow find a better way, a path without causing pain to him and loved ones. From the sentence structure one can easily see what happened in the end. If he could than he would but he did not obtain the good of him since there was no second chance.

All who know a little about Johnny’s life know that this song really is a reflection of his life and it is therefore absurd to even think someone else wrote it. He did a brand out of himself, made an empire, abused drugs, and hurt beloved by painful decisions. When he sang this one he was an old and wise man looking back to his life and achievements he accomplished as also about “the great leaving” to the other side. His voice is filled with emotions, wisdom, and regret.

Johnny Cash's version is much more emotional and powerful due to his voice and utterance of words, and his plain use of instruments. He never exaggerated with them in any of the songs and he only used what was really necessary, no special effects and no pretending in his voice made all his songs the best. However he always added something special to covers he did. Even though the words were the same it carried new meaning to the listener. Johnny had an ability to make miracles out of almost nothing. Yet, even greater ability was to take a great song and make it even better, which he often, especially in his last ten years, did so well.

7 JOHNNY CASH’S INFLUENCE

The influence Johnny had is hardly measurable and is likely to be compared with a mixture of influence that the president, an entertainer and a priest have. Mr. Cash was all in one, a package which influenced either directly or indirectly, a powerful mind that affected, motivated, inspired, shaped, changed people regardless of their age, status, whether they are fans, politicians or musicians, trough all of his life.

He started his career as a country folk singer but was later in his five decades lasting career never tied to a single genre. His songs could be labeled not only as country but also rockabilly, gospel, rock and roll, and blues songs. He is considered as one of the pioneers of rock and roll and is one of a few who were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and also to Country Hall of Fame. And in my opinion this was not even his greatest achievement. The influence he has had on successive generations of musicians is even harder to achieve, yet he did it. “He is the patron saint of every kid with a guitar,” said singer-songwriter Tom Waits. “Songwriters learn how to write songs from listening to each other. He's like a wise old tree full of songs. I spent many days under his branches” (“Johnny Cash’s Legacy”).

Various song artists, like Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Nick Cave, like rockers Kid Rock, U2, Sheryl Crow, Coldplay, John Mellencamp, punk rocker Joe Strummer, a rap singer Snoop Dog, and his own daughter Rossane Cash proudly admit their debt to the legend. He definitely “influenced music in such a profound way, beyond the genre of country” as Ronnie Dunn said (Concert lineup a tribute to Cash's influence).

In the 1970’s he was a host of a successful TV show, Johnny Cash TV Show, that lasted three years and featured a variety of successful artists among which there were some who did not often appear on television. Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Louis Armstrong were some of them. The eclectic collection of musicians also included Joni Mitchell,

Stevie Wonder, Kris Kristofferson, Bill Monroe, Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart, etc. Johnny Cash exposed American audience to a very heterogeneous collection of musicians and bands.

More interesting stories how he personally helped or motivated people to become world known musicians are written in lives of Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson. Amazingly, while concerting in prison, Cash inspired later well known country singer Merle Haggard. "I was in the prison band when I first saw him in San Quentin. I was impressed with his ability to take five thousand convicts and steal the show away from a bunch of strippers. That's pretty hard to do!" is how Merle gave credits to Cash. He was already a singer and songwriter but Cash’s concert in 1958 inspired him “to straighten up and pursue his singing” (“Merle Haggard”). Years later Kyle Young, director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said about Cash “When you listened to him you almost thought you could go out and make music yourself” (“Johnny Cash’s Legacy”).

Cash was recording at Columbia Records where Kris Kristofferson worked as a janitor and it was then when he took him under his wing. Kris was writing lyrics such as the lines in The Pilgrim that describe Johnny’s struggle:

He's a pilgrim and a preacher And a problem when he's stoned He's a walkin' contradiction Partly truth and partly fiction.

Cash also invited him to his TV show where his first great break trough happened (Williams).

His influence on musicians and singers in every genre worldwide can be still felt and his legacy will survive as long as there is music.

Johnny Cash was universal not only in the field of music, he also performed in TV series like Columbo, western A Gunfight with Kirk Douglas, in TV movies, and even produced and co-scripted a movie about the life of Jesus, The Gospel Road. To conclude, he had a power to bring smiles on faces, he contributed to making people feel better, he encouraged other musicians to write and sing great songs and he had this extraordinary energy of a hero.

8 THE REVIEW OF WALK THE LINE

The story of Man in Black comes to life in the movie Walk the Line therefore there was not any need to discuss about Johnny Cash’s biographical facts earlier in the diploma paper. The director of the movie James Mangold created a wonderful story based on Johnny Cash’s books “Man in Black” and “Cash: The Autobiography”, and with the help of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash over a number of years. Named for one of the Cash’s biggest hits it also implies that events in the story will follow a linear development. The magnificent opening of a movie combines pictures of prison walls, guards, prisoners and Cash’s music in the back; and then his serious and absent look while staring at a table saw. From there on the movie shows all milestones in 24 years of Cash’s life. The movie could easily capture all of his life not only the years from 1944 to 1968; however these years defined him as a performer and as a person. Walk the Line opens in 1944 Dyess, Arkansas, where we get to meet 12- year old J. R., as Johnny was called in the childhood, and his family. The beginning shows his strong attachment to his mother who taught him gospels and to his brother Jack with whom he listened to the Carter family on the radio. In spite of the age, he and Jack had to work hard on the fields and in the mill, where Jack hurt himself over the table saw so bad he died a week later. Johnny was often psychologically harassed after the accident by his father Ray, who said that “God took the wrong son”. Johnny fought off by escaping into his room and talking to dead brother in his bed. The film then undisturbed skips few years forward; Joaquin Phoenix taking over the part of 20 year old Cash, who gets up of his bed and heads to Landsberg, Germany. Serving in the Air Force his interest in music continues; he reads about the Carter family in the music magazines, plays a guitar and finally writes the lyrics for “Folsom Prison Blues” after watching the movie entitled “Folsom Prison”. While in Germany he also proposes to Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), who he marries two years later and moves to Memphis. Living there with her and their daughter and working as a door-to-door salesman, he starts a band: Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. Vivian is much like Ray, Johnny’s father, presented as the most negative person in Cash’s life. Many

authors of articles or forums and even John Carter Cash, the son of June and Johnny, imply that her negative character and behavior in the movie was exaggerated, however it was somehow needed to mitigate Cash’s flaws. The audition with a legendary Sam Phillips is one of my favorite scenes in the movie and starts at home where Vivian complains over Johnny’s choice of clothes. All in black, he gives an impression he is going to a funeral, and all he replies is “Maybe I am”. The audition shows perfectly how Cash started his career. From unsure and confused singer of gospels he in an instant transforms into a determined artist with a talent and will to succeed regardless what other say. With his sincerity, sharp voice, and words never been heard before he convinced the record producer and soon after a recording contract with Sun Studio took him on a tour through the South along with other prodigies Elvis Presley, Roy Orbinson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and also the Carter family. The tours are where Johnny loses himself; he starts to drink heavily, becomes addicted of drugs, entangles in love affairs, and alienates from his family; all of which is almost necessary for Hollywood’s blockbuster. The director has also been beautifully interweaving June Carter into Johnny Cash’s life. Listening to her singing in his childhood, reading music magazines writing about her and appearing on the stage with her; all suggesting this is only a beginning of their story. Although the plot is rather predictable, the movie was a runaway success because combining many different things. One of them and the most important is Joaquin Phoenix who is very good as Cash. He has that natural ominous look of Johnny Cash but physically does not look anything like him. Cash was known as an intense and difficult person, much more that the movie shows. Although Phoenix undoubtedly captures some of the Cash’s negativity in the movie, Vivian and Ray Cash are those characters who drag disapproval to themselves. However, Phoenix is a mysterious genius looking harsh and troubled, and looking good. He becomes Cash nicely. I am not much of a Reese Witherspoon fan since her earlier roles did not convince me. Leading role of a blonde in the movies Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde did no give her the identity of a serious actress. In spite of my belief she did an excellent job in Walk the Line . I just loved her performance, including her southern accent. The energy she as June Carter adds to the movie is endless. June Carter was famous since her early childhood as we get to know in the beginning of the movie

when J.R. listens to the radio and recognizes 10 year old June singing with the Carter family. Therefore she knew how to handle fame, how to behave and to separate her private life from public one. We are also told that June started to be funny because she did not have the perfect voice for singing and Witherspoon does a brilliant work in combining the funny onstage June and the sane and thoughtful offstage June. Her determination not to give way to Johnny’s passion for years is so sharp and real that I can not imagine anyone else playing the role of June. Another thing why the movie actually works is the connection that Phoenix and Witherspoon manage to establish on stage. The admiration, respect, friendship and passion follows them everywhere, their energy while on stage is enormous, and the opposites of their characters could not been presented more obviously. Singing must also be mentioned; maybe it is just me, but I found out much later that Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix performed all the vocals by themselves. Knowing most of Cash’s songs by heart by the first watching of the movie I stoned when I later found out that those are Phoenix and Witherspoon’s own voices. I do not know how they did it but they were obviously superb; Phoenix’s voice was really “steady like a train, sharp as a razor,” as June said. Johnny Cash’s story is by itself a story of a Hollywood movie. It must be confessed that his biopic can be easily a hit because Cash’s life is full of interesting twists and turns. However, the director did a great work. The decision to capture only the greatest turning points in Cash’s life actually turned out to be excellent. The director knew how to skip from one milestone in Cash’s life to another almost unknowingly for the viewer. The movie does not drag at all as it is often the case in similar biopics. I also admire the choice of the first scene and the scene close to the end. Cash’s whole story of becoming perfected by the love of his life and becoming the Man in Black lies within the framework of the Folsom Prison. Phoenix personifies the true Cash in the scene with the warden; he is sarcastic with him, honest when explaining that June does not want to be his wife, and a true rebel. Phoenix posses everything as Cash, his smile, sarcasm, humor, look and care for the forgotten ones. Walk the Line is not as much of a biopic as it is a manifest of music and love. There is quite a number of Cash’s songs performed and surprisingly they are left to go on for whole minutes, which is really nice since Cash’s life was defined by music as much as it

was by the relationships. Through a love story Johnny Cash’s personal transformation and professional success are presented. All in all, there are a lot of things not shown, however the movie captures the essence of Cash’s life; love for music, drug addiction, love for June, and his defiance. Not only Cash’s fans but everybody will enjoy the movie.

9 CONCLUSION

The story of Johnny Cash began in Depression-era Arkansas on a field where his mother thought him gospels. Sharecropper’s son took a long journey to become the iconic Man in Black; almost half a century long career and his increasing popularity in the last creating decade, proves he was extraordinary; he really had something for everybody. The music he created was alive or peaceful; rockabilly, country or almost Rock and Roll. Cash’s own experiences, tragic personal stories, relationships between the sexes, minority problems, God, and awareness of transience of life are the most frequent themes that universal artist devoted his attention to. The more sad and dramatic the story was, the more attractively Cash wraped it within a humor. The survey of only a fragment of his rich collection reveals a man with incomparable sense of opposites which is reflecting in his life as in the stories of his characters. The uniqueness lies in the sincerity of his voice. After all, his work was largely influenced by his characteristics, experiences, memories, and belief; morals that songs are sending out are his personal legacy. The main purpose of this diploma was above all to critically analyse the lyrics that denoted his and many other’s lives and to explore the way of narrating. Johnny Cash’s music and especially lyrics are very diverse. In one song he sings “I killed a man in Reno just to watch him die” and in another he sings about the second coming of Jesus. The duality in the songs is a reflection of his split personality. He was an angel and devil at the same time; drug addict and an affectionate man in love. He had an ability to see good in every bad person, whether this be a criminal or a drunk veteran. He saw beyond that, and could not be silent about it. Many of his characters are criminals, and the most often presented crime is murder. Cash never sang of the act itself; he always introduced the crime through a regretful point of view, either the criminal’s or the mother’s, in want to teach a lesson. However, the thing he did best is his how he used humor in, as a matter of fact, really sad situations. The effect he achieves with it is amazing; with a smile on a face one feels sorry for someone who had been killing.

Music and lyrics that Johnny Cash either signed his name on or lend his beautiful baritone voice have a special place in American as well as in the world’s music. Johnny Cash is one of the rare musicians respected by his coevals and generations just to be born, regular listeners and musicians. The reason for it, among the others is definitely in his sincerity and courage to interpret already popular songs regardless the genre.

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APPENDICES best cotton crop we'd ever had.

Folsom Prison Blues I remember hearing: How high's the water, mama? 'Two feet high and rising' I hear the train a comin' How high's the water, papa? It's rollin' 'round the bend, 'She said it's two feet high and rising And I ain't seen the sunshine, But we can make it to the road in a homemade Since, I don't know when, I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, boat 'Cause that's the only thing we got left that'll And time keeps draggin' on, float But that train keeps a-rollin', It's already over all the wheat and oats' On down to San Antone. Two feet high and rising

When I was just a baby, My Mama told me, "Son, How high's the water, mama? 'Three feet high and rising' Always be a good boy, How high's the water, papa? Don't ever play with guns," 'She said it's three feet high and rising But I shot a man in Reno, Well, the hives are gone, I lost my bees Just to watch him die, When I hear that whistle blowin', Chickens are sleepin' in the willow trees I hang my head and cry. Cows in water up past their knees' Three feet high and rising

I bet there's rich folks eatin', How high's the water, mama? In a fancy dining car, 'Four feet high and rising' They're probably drinkin' coffee, And smokin' big cigars, How high's the water, papa? But I know I had it comin', 'She said it's four feet high and rising Hey, come look through the window pane I know I can't be free, The bus is coming, gonna take us to the train But those people keep a-movin', Looks like we'll be blessed with a little more And that's what tortures me. rain'

Well, if they freed me from this prison, Four feet high and rising

If that railroad train was mine, How high's the water, Mama? I bet I'd move out over a little, 'Five feet high and rising' Farther down the line, How high's the water, Papa? Far from Folsom Prison, That's where I want to stay, 'She said it's five feet high and rising And I'd let that lonesome whistle, Well, the rails are washed out north of town We gotta head for higher ground Blow my Blues away. We can't come back till the water goes down' Five feet high and rising http://www.lyricsdepot.com/johnny- Well, it's five feet high and rising cash/folsom-prison-blues.html http://www.elyrics.net/read/j/johnny-cash- lyrics/five-feet-high-and-rising-lyrics.html Five Feet High And Rising

My mama always taught me that good things The man in black come from adversity if we put our faith in the

Lord. Well, you wonder why I always dress in black, We couldn't see much good in the flood waters Why you never see bright colors on my back, when they And why does my appearance seem to have a were causing us to have to leave home, somber tone. But when the water went down, we found that it Well, there's a reason for the things that I have had washed a load of rich black bottom dirt on. across our land. The following year we had the

Everybody won't be treated all the same I wear the black for the poor and the beaten There'll be a golden ladder reaching down down, When the Man comes around Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for The hairs on your arm will stand up his crime, At the terror in each sip and in each sup But is there because he's a victim of the times. Will you partake of that last offered cup? Or disappear into the potter's ground I wear the black for those who never read, When the Man comes around Or listened to the words that Jesus said, About the road to happiness through love and Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers charity, One hundred million angels singing Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum and me. Voices calling, voices crying Some are born and some are dying Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose, It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes, But just so we're reminded of the ones who are And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree held back, The virgins are all trimming their wicks Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks I wear it for the sick and lonely old, For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them Till Armageddon no shalam, no shalom cold, Then the father hen will call his chickens home I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that The wise man will bow down before the throne could have been, And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns Each week we lose a hundred fine young men. When the Man comes around

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died, Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still Believen' that the Lord was on their side, Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still I wear it for another hundred thousand who Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still have died, Listen to the words long written down Believen' that we all were on their side. When the Man comes around

Well, there's things that never will be right I Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers know, One hundred million angels singing And things need changin' everywhere you go, Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum But 'til we start to make a move to make a few Voices calling and voices crying things right, Some are born and some are dying You'll never see me wear a suit of white. It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day, And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree And tell the world that everything's OK, The virgins are all trimming their wicks But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my The whirlwind is in the thorn tree back, It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks 'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black. In measured hundred weight and penney pound When the Man comes around. The Man Comes Around Close (Spoken part) And I heard as it were the noise of thunder And I heard a voice in the midst of the four One of the four beasts saying come and see and beasts I saw And I looked and behold, a pale horse And behold a white horse And his name that sat on him was Death And Hell followed with him. There's a man going around taking names (Revelations 6:7-8) And he decides who to free and who to blame

The ballad of Ira Hayes CHORUS: Call him drunken Ira Hayes Call him drunken Ira Hayes He won't answer anymore He won't answer anymore Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Nor the Marine that went to war Nor the Marine that went to war Then Ira started drinkin' hard; Gather round me people there's a story I would Jail was often his home tell They'd let him raise the flag and lower it About a brave young Indian you should like you'd throw a dog a bone! remember well From the land of the Pima Indian He died drunk early one mornin' A proud and noble band Alone in the land he fought to save Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land Two inches of water in a lonely ditch Was a grave for Ira Hayes Down the ditches for a thousand years The water grew Ira's peoples' crops CHORUS: 'Till the white man stole the water rights Call him drunken Ira Hayes And the sparklin' water stopped He won't answer anymore Now Ira's folks were hungry Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian And their land grew crops of weeds Nor the Marine that went to war When war came, Ira volunteered And forgot the white man's greed Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes But his land is just as dry CHORUS: And his ghost is lyin' thirsty Call him drunken Ira Hayes In the ditch where Ira died He won't answer anymore Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian http://www.metrolyrics.com/ballad-of-ira- Nor the Marine that went to war hayes-lyrics-johnny-cash.html

There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill, Two hundred and fifty men Give my love to Rose But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again I found him by the railroad track this morning I could see that he was nearly dead And when the fight was over I knelt down beside him and I listened And when Old Glory raised Just to hear the words the dying fellow said Among the men who held it high Was the Indian, Ira Hayes He said they let me out of prison down in Frisco For ten long years I've paid for what I've done CHORUS: I was trying to get back to Louisiana Call him drunken Ira Hayes To see my Rose and get to know my son He won't answer anymore Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian Chorus: Nor the Marine that went to war Give my love to Rose please won't you mister Take her all my money, tell her to buy some Ira Hayes returned a hero pretty clothes Celebrated through the land Tell my boy his daddy's so proud of him He was wined and speeched and honored; And don't forget to give my love to Rose Everybody shook his hand Tell them I said thanks for waiting for me But he was just a Pima Indian Tell my boy to help his mom at home No water, no home, no chance Tell my Rose to try to find another At home nobody cared what Ira'd done For it ain't right that she should live alone And when did the Indians dance Mister here's a bag with all my money

It won't last them long the way it goes And tried to tell himself he had become a man God bless you for finding me this morning A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him And don't forget to give my love to Rose down And he heard again his mothers words Chorus: Give my love to Rose please won't you mister Chorus Take her all my money, tell her to buy some Don't take your guns to town son pretty clothes Leave your guns at home Bill Tell my boy his daddy's so proud of him Don't take your guns to town And don't forget to give my love to Rose Filled with rage then http://www.lyricsdepot.com/johnny-cash/give- Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw my-love-to-rose.html But the stranger drew his gun and fired Before he even saw As Billy Joe fell to the floor Don’t take your guns to town The crowd all gathered 'round And wondered at his final words A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm Chorus A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant Don't take your guns to town son no harm Leave your guns at home Bill He changed his clothes and shined his boots Don't take your guns to town And combed his dark hair down And his mother cried as he walked out Delia’s gone Chorus Don't take your guns to town son Delia, oh, Delia Leave your guns at home Bill Delia all my life Don't take your guns to town If I hadn't have shot poor Delia I'd-a had her for my wife He laughed and kissed his mom Delia's gone, one more round And said your Billy Joe's a man Delia's gone I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can But I wouldn't shoot without a cause I went up to Memphis I'd gun nobody down And I met Delia there But she cried again as he rode away Found her in her parlor And I tied to her chair Chorus Delia's gone, one more round Don't take your guns to town son Delia's gone Leave your guns at home Bill Don't take your guns to town She was low down and trifling And she was cold and mean He sang a song as on he rode Kind of evil make me want to His guns hung at his hips Grab my sub machine He rode into a cattle town Delia's gone, one more round A smile upon his lips Delia's gone He stopped and walked into a bar And laid his money down First time I shot her But his mother's words echoed again I shot her in the side Hard to watch her suffer Chorus But with the second shot she died Don't take your guns to town son Delia's gone, one more round Leave your guns at home Bill Delia's gone Don't take your guns to town But jailer, oh, jailer He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his Jailer, I can't sleep shaking hand 'Cause all around my bedside

I hear the patter of Delia's feet curled up on the sofa, me and her....and that Delia's gone, one more round mean eyed cat Delia's gone

So if you woman's devilish A boy named Sue You can let her run Or you can bring her down and do her My daddy left home when I was three Like Delia got done And he didn't leave much to ma and me Delia's gone, one more round Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze Delia's gone Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid But the meanest thing that he ever did http://www.lyricsdepot.com/johnny-cash/delias- Was before he left, he went and named me Sue gone.html Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk Mean Eyed Cat It seems I had to fight my whole life through Some gal would giggle and I'd get red I give my woman half my money at the general And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head store I said, "Now buy a little groceries, and I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Sue don't spend no more." But she gave ten dollars for a ten cent hat And bought some store bought Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean cat food for a mean eyed cat. My fist got hard and my wits got keen I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame When I give her ten more dollars for a one way But I made a vow to the moon and stars ticket She was mad as she could be Then I bet That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars ten more that if she ever left She'd come a- And kill that man who gave me that awful name crawlin' back to me When I woke up this mornin' and I turned my head There wasn't a Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July cotton pickin' thing on her side of the bed I And I just hit town and my throat was dry found a little old note where her head belonged I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew It said, "Dear John, honey, baby, I'm long At an old saloon on a street of mud gone." There at a table, dealing stud When I heard a whistle blowin', and the big Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue wheels a-turnin' I was scared as I could be I put on my overalls and I headed to town Gonna Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad bring her back with me. From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil I asked the man down at the station if he'd seen eye her there I told him all about her pretty eyes and He was big and bent and gray and old long, blonde hair He spit his tobacco, said, "I'll And I looked at him and my blood ran cold be dad blamed...... I believe I did see her leavin' And I said, "My name is Sue, how do you do on the east bound train." Now you're gonna die"

I bought a round trip ticket on the east bound Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes train I was broke as I could be But when I come And he went down, but to my surprise back, gotta buy another ticket Gotta bring her He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of back with me. my ear But I busted a chair right across his teeth Well, I got off the train somewhere in Arkansas And we crashed through the wall and into the And I worked up the guts to call my Mother-In- street Law She said, "I'll tell you where she is, if you Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the act right." "She's workin' four to twelve at blood and the beer Trucker's World tonight." I tell ya, I've fought tougher men When I walked in she saw me, and she took off But I really can't remember when her apron And she grabbed her goin' home hat He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile She bought a ticket with her tips And now we're I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss

He went for his gun and I pulled mine first You'll know it's me when I come through your He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him town smile I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild And he said, "Son, this world is rough 'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round. And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough So the very next day when I punched in And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along With my big lunchbox and with help from my So I give ya that name and I said goodbye friends I knew you'd have to get tough or die I left that day with a lunch box full of gears And it's the name that helped to make you Now, I never considered myself a thief strong" GM wouldn't miss just one little piece Especially if I strung it out over several years. He said, "Now you just fought one hell of a fight The first day I got me a fuel pump And I know you hate me, and you got the right And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you Then I got me a transmission and all of the do chrome But ya ought to thank me, before I die The little things I could get in my big lunchbox For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks 'Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's Sue" mobile home.

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun Now, up to now my plan went all right And I called him my paw, and he called me his 'Til we tried to put it all together one night son And that's when we noticed that something was And I came away with a different point of view definitely wrong. And I think about him, now and then Every time I try and every time I win The transmission was a '53 And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name And the motor turned out to be a '73 him... And when we tried to put in the bolts all the Bill or George! Anything but Sue! holes were gone.

So we drilled it out so that it would fit One piece at a time And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit We had that engine runnin' just like a song Well, I left Kentucky back in '49 Now the headlight' was another sight An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line We had two on the left and one on the right The first year they had me puttin' wheels on But when we pulled out the switch all three of cadillacs 'em come on.

Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by The back end looked kinda funny too And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry But we put it together and when we got thru 'Cause I always wanted me one that was long Well, that's when we noticed that we only had and black. one tail-fin About that time my wife walked out One day I devised myself a plan And I could see in her eyes that she had her That should be the envy of most any man doubts I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my But she opened the door and said "Honey, take hand me for a spin." Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand. So we drove up town just to get the tags And I headed her right on down main drag CHORUS I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks I'd get it one piece at a time around And it wouldn't cost me a dime But up there at the court house they didn't laugh

'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff more And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds. When I was arrested I was dressed in black CHORUS They put me on a train and they took me I got it one piece at a time back And it didn't cost me a dime Had no friend for to go my bail they You'll know it's me when I come through your slapped my dried up carcass in that town country jail I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild Early next mornin' bout a half past nine I 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around. spied the sheriff coming down the line Talked and he coughed as he cleared his (Spoken) Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER throat This is the COTTON MOUTH He said come on you dirty heck into that In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on district court Into the courtroom my trial began where I Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH was handled by twelve honest men And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine Just before the jury started out I saw the there RED RYDER little judge commence to look about You might say I went right up to the factory And picked it up, it's cheaper that way In about five minutes in walked the man Ugh!, what model is it? holding the verdict in his right hand The verdict read in the first degree I Well, It's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56 hollered Lordy Lordy have a mercy on '57, '58' 59' automobile me It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67 '68, '69, '70 automobile. The judge he smiled as he picked up his Last time we were here at Folsom Prison, they pin 99 years in the Folsom pen were hanging Joe Bean. Is Joe still here...Joe 99 years underneath that ground I can't Bean? Hang the son of a bitch anyways, right? forget the day I shot that bad bitch down Come on you've gotta listen unto me lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be Cocain blues

Early one mornin' while makin' the Joe Bean rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my Well, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning, for woman down killing a man in Arkansas. Funny thing about it, I went right home and I went to bed I Joe Bean has never been to Arkansas. On top of stuck that lovin' 44 beneath my head that, Joe Bean never heard of the man. In fact, today is Joe Bean's twentieth birthday. Got up next mornin' and I grabbed that gun took a shot of cocaine and away I run See through the prison bars, Joe Bean, see Made a good run but I run too slow they where the gallows stand. Just twenty short years overtook me down in Juarez Mexico from the day you were born, you died by the hangman's hand. Late in the hot joints takin' the pills in walked the sheriff from Jericho Hill Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning, for He said Willy Lee your name is not Jack a shooting that he never did. He killed 20 men, Brown by the time he was 10, he was an unruly kid. You're the dirty hack that shot your woman down Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean for the one Said yes oh yes my name is Willy Lee if shooting that Joe Bean never did. you've got the warrant just aread it to me Shot her down because she made me slow Well, Joe - your mother is at the Capitol, asking I thought I was her daddy but she had five the governor for a stay. And it's hard on her,

'cause she knows where you were, on that Not only that, but he rejoined his arm particular day. You were working Joe Bean, Down below, all the critics, they loot it all back hard working, robbing the Santa Fe. Cancer robbed the whore of her charm

Well, the telegraph wires are humming. Here, His ex-wife died of stretch marks, his ex- the governor's words come through. He said, "I employer went broke can't set you free, it's not up to me, but there's The theologians were finally found out much, Joe Bean, I'll do. I'll join your mother in extending Birthday greetings to you. Happy Right down to the ground, that old jail house Birthday, Joe Bean." burned down There once was a man who just couldn't cry The earth suffered perpetual drought He hadn't cried for years and for years Napalmed babies and the movie love story They had a warrant out for me all over the For instance could not produce tears country As a child he had cried as all children will And I was trying to beat the raps in Idaho Then at some point his tear ducts ran dry I was breaking into a schoolhouse Sunday He grew to be a man, the feces hit the fan morning without warning Things got bad, but he couldn't cry When I saw the sheriff coming for me slow from down below His dog was run over, his wife up and left him And after that he got sacked from his job His steel grey eyes were blazing when he saw Lost his arm in the war, was laughed at by a me whore His hand was on his gun when he rode up Ah, but sill not a sniffle or sob He said you killed that woman I know you shot her why'd you do it His novel was refused, his movie was panned I'm taking you to Austin then I'm gonna lock And his big Broadway show was a flop you up

He got sent off to jail; you guessed it, no bail Well he tied me with a plow line the next Oh, but still not a dribble or drop morning And he had me deep in Texas the next day In jail he was beaten, bullied and buggered A crazy screaming lynch mob waited in the And made to make license plates streets of Austin Water and bread was all he was fed But he put me in the jailhouse and he threw the But not once did a tear stain his face key away [ ac.guitar ] Doctors were called in, scientists, too A jury found me guilty three months later Theologians were last and practically least twelve evil men with murder in their eyes They even took me out and said now show us They all agreed sure enough; this was sure no where you killed her cream puff And that wicked judge said now I here by But in fact an insensitive beast sentence you to die But here I am far away from Austin prison my He was removed from jail and placed in a place friend the jailer handed me a file For the insensitive and the insane Now all I want between me and there are a lot He played lots of chess and made lots of friends of friendly people And he wept every time it would rain And miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles Once it rained forty days and it rained forty nights http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/ringoffirethemusi And he cried and he cried and he cried and he cal/austinprison.htm cried

On the forty-first day, he passed away One He just dehydrated and died Is it getting better Well, he went up to heaven, located his dog Or do you feel the same

Will it make it easier on you now One blood You got someone to blame One life You say... You got to do what you should One life One love With each other One life Sisters When it's one need Brothers In the night One life One love But we're not the same We get to share it We get to Leaves you baby if you Carry each other Don't care for it Carry each other

Did I disappoint you One...life Or leave a bad taste in your mouth You act like you never had love And you want me to go without Hurt Well it's... I hurt myself today Too late To see if i still feel Tonight I focus on the pain To drag the past out into the light The only thing that's real We're one, but we're not the same The needle tears a hole We get to The old familiar sting Carry each other Try to kill it all away Carry each other But i remember everything One... What have i become? My sweetest friend Have you come here for forgiveness Everyone i know Have you come to raise the dead Goes away in the end Have you come here to play Jesus You could have it all To the lepers in your head My empire of dirt I will let you down Did I ask too much I will make you hurt More than a lot I wear this my crown of thorns You gave me nothing Upon my liar's chair Now it's all I got Full of broken thoughts We're one I cannot repair But we're not the same Beneath the stains of time Well we The feeling disappears Hurt each other You are someone else Then we do it again I am still right here You say What have i become? Love is a temple My sweetest friend Love a higher law Everyone i know Love is a temple Goes away in the end Love the higher law You could have it all You ask me to enter My empire of dirt But then you make me crawl I will let you down And I can't be holding on I will make you hurt To what you got If i could start again When all you got is hurt A million miles away I would keep myself One love I would find a way