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“Friday Morning, Coming Down”
“And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin' Johnny Cash. The Man In Black. I have this place in my mind that refuses to believe that he’s dead. He’s still there, playing Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” over and over like some kind of phantom limb and I want to call God jealous for taking him, like I know that it’s better but am too selfish to allow myself to accept the passing…hell, I didn’t even know the guy. I was lucky to find Johnny. He came from the school of country when you actually wrote about things. None of these country-fried pop stars today will be remembered tomorrow. Johnny had staying power. I challenge anyone to watch that video for “Hurt” and not cry. If you can’t cry at that, you have no heart. My heart is aching, and that says something. Johnny took the underdog’s shirt off, showed you the scars from the whippings, made you look at it, made you understand. You can’t get those images out of your head, and he didn’t want you to lose them. Johnny’s music wasn’t an escape, it was a confrontation. You faced those monsters in your closet, and mabe you beat them, and maybe they beat you, but you were stronger for it. I am stronger for it. I love Johnny Cash. I miss him.
Johnny Cash died in Nashville Friday morning at 1 A.M. from respiratory complications resulting from his diabetes. He wrote songs for those who had no voice in politics and society. He wore black at a time when country was all rhinestones and chrome. Johnny Cash was the original rebel, and he will be missed.
Johnny Cash entered the Air Force in 1951, learning guitar while stationed in Germany. It was those melancholy songs which helped him to deal with the intense loneliness he felt while stationed there. In 1956, Johnny had his first hit with the notorious “Folsom Prison Blues”, a song about a man who shot someone just to watch them die. As Johnny said later he had “people [coming] up to him and [saying], ‘My father was in prison with you!’” Johnny battled drug addiction and alcohol abuse, but never actually went to prison.
“My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand on you. You'll be singing for the world someday," said Cash. And she was right. Johnny delivered beautiful, sometimes heart-rending songs like “I Walk the Line”, “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”, “I Still Miss Someone”, “Ring of Fire”, “Folsom Prison Blues”, “A Boy Named Sue”, and “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.
His influence began with artist such as Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris and continued on to recent years with artists such as NIN’s Trent Reznor, Dave Matthews, U2, and Nick Cave. There isn’t anything to fill that gap where he once stood. The man was too tall, much too larger than life. I still feel that presence in the world, itching, stupid phantom limb….
“She walks these
hills in a long black veil |
