Music Talent of Johnny Cash - Essay Example

JOHNNY CASH Johnny Cash is recognized as one of country music’s biggest stars of the 50s and 60s, recording over 100 hit singles Having been born and raised in Arkansas, the themes of his songs are nostalgia, sorrow, sympathy for the downtrodden, deviation from morality and redemption. These song themes are directly connected to the situation in America during the singer’s childhood life, as well as his feelings and experiences during those days. Not only do his songs reflect facets of his childhood experience, but some of them also reveal the effect of those themes on his own life. Partly of Indian descent, Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on 26 February 1932 into the family of a poor sharecropper, Ray Cash. Little Johnny was raised in a shotgun shack in Arkansas’s cotton zone.2 The Cash family eked out a hand-to-mouth existence supported by working long hours at farming cotton. Johnny joined the family occupations from the age of five. His first exposure to music came when singing along with his family as they worked in the fields during the day and sang hymns on the porch at night.3 After working hard during the day, Johnny liked to listen to the radio at night. The country songs aired on the radio inspired him to write his own songs, and he started doing this at the age of twelve. While at school, Johnny once sang on the Arkansas radio station KLCN.4 His mother Reba encouraged him to write songs, and also taught him how to play the guitar. In later life his singing career began when he auditioned with Sun Records and its owner Sam Phillips.5 That stepping-stone led him from strength to strength and he rapidly grew in fame, soon developing into a legend; his ever-present 1 - Vh1.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 2 - BBC.co.uk. “Obituary: Johnny Cash.” 2003. 3 - Leopold, Todd. “‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. 4 - BBC.co.uk. “Obituary: Johnny Cash.” 2003. 5 - Leopold, Todd. “‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. guitar and authoritative, gruff baritone voice assured him of a favored niche in the country music genre. In the latter part of his career he hosted his own talk show titled “The Johnny Cash Show,” an ABC program that ran for 2 years (1969 to 1971).6 The singer himself underlined the strong connection between his childhood and his song themes when he claimed he never forgot his roots and early life (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame). Perhaps the best proof of this claim is contained in the song “When I Stop Dreaming”; in it Cash claims that the flowers can be taught how to bloom, or the pebbles may be taught how to grow; but “you can’t teach my heart to forget.” 7 By this claim, Cash confirms that he retains clear memories of all that transpired during his childhood, and such being human nature, he does his best to portray themes of those experiences in the only way he knew how – in his songs. The theme of nostalgia is seen in the song “Home of the Blues” (1958) that tells about Cash’s own childhood experience.8 Nostalgic memories of Reba who used to sing gospel songs at every opportunity is apparent in the Johnny Cash album, “My Mother’s Hymn Book,” a collection of traditional gospel songs;9 in “The Gospel Road,” an epic about Jesus - Cash narrated and co-produced (with Billy Graham) its soundtrack;10 and in the annual Christmas special shows that Cash hosted on CBS during the 1970’s.11 The theme of sorrow in some of his songs comes from some of Cash’s childhood experiences. His first significant sorrowful experience was the flooding of the Cash family farm, a traumatic experience that remained evergreen in his memory, prompting 6 - BBC.co.uk. “Obituary: Johnny Cash.” 2003. 7 - Vh1.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 8 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 9 – Ibid. 10 – History-of-rock.com. “Johnny Cash.” 11 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. him to later write and sing “Five Feet High And Rising.”12 The other important sorrowful experience was the death of his brother, Jack in 1944 as a result of a horrific accident while handling a high school shop table saw; the boy was just 14 years old when the tragedy took place. Johnny, who was 12 at that time, was greatly affected by his brother’s death, and that sorrowful vision stayed with him all his life. He admitted that it was the cause of the melancholy tinge evident in all his music, as well as his somber demeanor. For his debut in Nashville in 1957, Johnny Cash appeared at the Grand Ole Opry dressed fully in black;13 a trademark outfit (black clothes including a long black knee-length coat) that he continued to wear during all future performances on stage. As the color black is generally considered a sign of mourning, Cash’s dress code was seen as his continual remembrance of Jack’s untimely death. Cash went one step further to emphasize the theme of sorrow by releasing the 1971 song “Man in Black,” widely seen as his self-portrayal.14 The theme of ‘sympathy for the downtrodden’ in some of his songs is a reflection of the tough time during his childhood. Cash himself said in an interview to City News in 1987: “My roots are in the working man. I can remember very well how it is to pick cotton 10 hours a day, or to plow, or how to cut wood.”15 Most of his songs are about the travails of working men and the downtrodden – more than 400 plainspoken story-songs tell about the lives of coal miners, Native Americans, sharecroppers, cowboys, renegades and family men.16 In “One Piece at a Time” (1976), he tells about an automobile factory 12 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 13 - BBC.co.uk. “Obituary: Johnny Cash.” 2003. 14 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 15 - Leopold, Todd. “‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. 16 – Rockhall.com. “Johnny Cash - Performer.” 2005. worker who smuggles car parts out of the factory in order to make his own car.17 In the song “Man in Black,” Cash tells that he is wearing black to draw attention to the underprivileged section of society, for “the poor living in the hungry side of town,” for those “beaten down” by economic burdens, as well as those unjustly imprisoned (“ the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,” who is in prison only because he is a “victim of the times.”).18 Sympathy for the downtrodden is again evident in “Bitter Tears” (1964), an album with songs about the unfortunate conditions of Native Americans,19 and “Apache Tears” which tells about a Mascalero Apache mass grave where the Red Indians (“young men, old men, the guilty and the innocent”) bled “red blood” as a result of confrontation with white Americans.20 Starting with San Quentin in 1958, Johnny Cash gave several free shows at various prisons within the United States during his career. “Fulsom Prison Blues,” released in 1956, is about a prisoner wistfully listening to the whistle of a train passing outside the prison, regretting his crime and wishfully dreaming of what he would do if he were free like the free people (“But those people keep a moving”) in the train.21 The Great Depression created unprecedented unemployment, and this in turn led to other evils like excessive drinking, gambling, extramarital sex and taking drugs. The theme of deviation from morality in some of Cash’s songs is the result of his seeing morally deviating behavior as a direct result of economic woes. His 1955 song “Cry Cry Cry” is about an unfaithful lover who is enamored by material wealth (“I think you only 17 - Leopold, Todd. “‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. 18 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 19 – Ibid. 20 – Songmeanings.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 21 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. live to see the lights of town”), and is advised to face reality quickly or face the danger of having to repent for her rash outlook (“’Cos when the lights have lost their glow, you’ll cry, cry, cry.”)22 Another song with the same theme is “I Walk the Line” (a 1956 hit which was number one for 6 weeks, securing a place in the top pop 20)23 whose lyrics tell about him remaining faithful to his wife (Cash was married to his first wife Vivian Liberto at that time) while on the road; he pledges to exert his utmost efforts for her and his family (“Because you’re mine, I walk the line.”)24 Cash is guilty of not practicing what he preached. An offshoot of his turbulent childhood period was that he started using illegal drugs and drinking excessive alcohol. His bad habits caused the breakup of his marriage to Vivian. Although he quit using drugs in 1968 (after meeting and marrying second wife June), he relapsed into drug addiction once more in 1983. His song “Ring of Fire” (1962)25 tells of his deviation from morality into drug addiction and alcoholism, admitting that he fell into a “burning ring of fire” and went on plummeting downwards more and more (“I went down, down, down) as he increasingly became consumed by the bad habits. Significantly, just 4 months before his death, Cash sang “Ring of Fire” at a June 21, 2003 concert; in retrospect, this event is seen as his tacit acceptance of an immoral lifestyle that continued to take him deeper into his personal hell, his own “ring of fire.” His immoral lifestyle ultimately took its toll and he died on September 12, 2003 at the age of 71.26 The Great Depression created adverse economic conditions for the American people, 22 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 23 - Vh1.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 24 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 25 – Ibid. 26 – Ibid. and that led to many of them being lured, willingly or unwillingly, into unlawful acts. Cash sympathizes with them by drawing on the theme of redemption in some of his songs. “Get Rhythm” (1958) is a rockabilly song about optimistic redemption, the story of a poor shoeshine boy who develops “rhythm” to come to terms with the monotonous nature of his life.27 Cash’s own craving for redemption is apparent in the song “(There’ll Be) Peace in the Valley (For Me),” where he tells about being “tired and weary” with his present way of life and looks forward to redemption in life after death (“I’ll be changed, changed from his creature that I am.”)28 The culmination of influences of his childhood on his songs is best epitomized in “Hurt” which he covered in the year 2002, and which was his final hit song before his death. Its video contains images of Cash’s life right from his childhood up to his present stage. Its lyrics tell about a man about to kill himself (Cash literally did that the following year), who reflects on his life, recalling memories ranging from events of brazen adventure (“broken thoughts I cannot repair”), to drug addiction (“the needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting”), and to the ultimate realization that he has gained nothing by deviating from morality (“my empire of dirt”).29 In conclusion, I can confidently affirm that most of Johnny Cash’s songs do contain themes born out of his childhood experience. The nature of the themes are such that they are easily understood by common people, many of whom may find uncanny resemblances to experiences in their own lives – past and present. Ed Benson, ex-director of the Country Music Association, elucidated this point well; calling Johnny cash a “cultural Icon in America,” he went on to say: “People associated him with values 27 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 28 – Songmeanings.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. 29 – Wikipedia.com. “Johnny Cash.” 2006. that I think they held near and dear to their hearts.30 30 - Leopold, Todd. “‘Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. References used: “Johnny Cash.” History-of-rock.com. (N.d.). 12 Dec. 2006. “Johnny Cash.” Songmeanings.com. 2006. 12 Dec. 2006. “Johnny Cash.” Vh1.com. 2006. 12 Dec. 2006. “Johnny Cash.” Wikipedia.com. 2006. 12 Dec. 2006. “Johnny Cash – Performer.” Rockhall.com. 2005. 12 Dec. 2006. Leopold, Todd. “’Man in Black’ Johnny Cash dead at 71.” 2003. Cnn.com. 12 Dec. 2006. “Obituary: Johnny Cash.” BBC.co.uk. 2003. 12 Dec. 2006. Read More