Johnny Cash

Nashville, TN   Visited April 2013

A post about the legendary Johnny Cash.  There is a personal dimension to this one because it turns out that I am related to the Man in Black.  Details at the bottom of this post.  But first the story.

In doing research on Johnny Cash I realized there is no way I could capture his extraordinary life and art in a blog.  So I thought I’d do something different.  I’ll give some basic bio, then I’ll:  

• Give 10 remarkable/curious/notable facts about the man.
• Give five insightful quotes from or about him.  
• Give my list of the top five Johnny Cash songs.

Little J. R. Cash

Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas.  The Cash family were poor cotton farmers but had a strong Pentecostal background.  The death of Cash’s older brother in a sawmill accident at 15 had a profound effect on him and was often referenced in his story for the rest of his life. Cash served in the air force in Germany in 1950-54.  Upon his discharge in 1954 he married his first wife Vivian.  They had four daughters.  Was signed initially signed  to Sun Records by Sam Phillips in 1955.  His first major hit was I Walk the Line. He rose to prominence as both a country music star and popular music personality in the 1960's.  Serious drug and alcohol addiction nearly destroyed him in the mid sixties, and his erratic behavior cost him his first marriage.   

Cash married June Carter in 1968 and they had one son.  From 1969-71 Johnny hosted The Johnny Cash Show on CBS, where he brought performers from the country and pop words together to perform.  While his own recording career would taper down over the next quarter century, Cash collaborated with artists across the pop music performance in making music and live performances.  Johnny quit performing due to a degenerative nerve disorder in 1997.  He and June lived as revered elders in country music until June’s death in May 2003 after 35 years of marriage.  Johnny died less than four months later on September 12, 2003.  He was 71.   The Cash’s are buried at Hendersonville Memorial Gardens in Hendersonville, TN, just outside Nashville. 

Johnny Cash is the only performer elected to the Country Music, Rock and Roll and Songwriters Halls of Fame.

Ten Remarkable/Curious/Notable Facts about Johnny Cash – In Chronological Order.

#1  Johnny Cash’s legal name at birth was J. R. Cash – no names, just initials.  He took the name Johnny when he enlisted in the army. 

#2  Cash was taught the guitar by his mother who wanted him to sing gospel music.  He began writing and singing (in a high tenor voice) when he was twelve.

#3  Cash was the first military radio operator to decode the news that Joseph Stalin had died. 

#4  On December 4, 1956 Johnny Cash was in the Sun Studio in Nashville.  In a nearby recording room Carl Perkins was recording a song backed on piano by Jerry Lee Lewis.  A young singer named Elvis Presley dropped in and the four commenced a jam session of mostly gospel tunes that was later released as “The Million Dollar Quartet”.

The Million Dollar Quartet - from left to right,
Lewis, Perkins, Presley, Cash

#5  Johnny Cash began wearing his signature black suit early in his career primarily because it was easier to keep looking clean on tour.  He became known as ‘the Undertaker’ because of it.

Early J.C with signature guitar pose

#6  In 1965 Cash was driving his truck in Los Padres National Forest in California when it caught fire.   The fire destroyed over 500 acres of forest on two mountains.  When asked why it happened, Cash told a judge, "I didn't do it, my truck did, and it's dead, so you can't question it."

#7  Johnny Cash first performed at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956.  In 1965 he was banned from the Opry because he smashed all the flood lights with a microphone stand.  He was reinstated a few years later.  

 #8  In 1983 Johnny Cash played a heroic sheriff in the movie, Murder in Coweta County.  Andy Griffith played the bad guy in the movie. 

C+ Christian with Billy Graham

#9  In 1986 Cash published his only novel – a fictionalized account of the Apostle Paul entitled “Man in White”.  The idea came out of his religious conversion; a born again experience that had a lasting effect on his life even as he struggled to live consistently as a follower of Christ.   He once said he graded himself a  C+ as a Christian.

#10  Johnny Cash recorded sixty songs in the last four months of his life.  He finished the final track for his last album a week before he died.

Johnny and June Carter Cash

Five quotes by or about the Man in Black

“The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars.” - Johnny Cash

“How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man” - Johnny Cash

Dylan and Cash - they were neighbors in Woodstock, NY
in the mid 1960's

"He is what the land and country is all about, the heart and soul of it personified and what it means to be here; and he said it all in plain English.  Listen to him, and he will always bring you to your senses.” - Bob Dylan

“He showed me his house, his ranch, his zoo (seriously, he had a zoo in Nashville), his faith, his musicianship.  He was more than wise. In a garden full of weeds — the oak tree.” - Bono

"Johnny, I want to send out a big thanks for the inspiration.  You took the social consciousness from folk music, the gravity and humor from country music, and the rebellion out of rock and roll, and taught all us young guys that not only was it all right to tear up all those lines and boundaries, but it was important." – Bruce Springsteen

Five favorite songs. 

The Highwaymen (L to R):  Willie Nelson, Waylon
Jennings, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson - 1980s

#5 A Boy Named Sue:  What was initially as a novelty song released on the B side of the San Quentin single, it became his only top ten pop hit.  This is one of the first records I bought and I had memorized the entire song when I was about 9 years old.  I still know more of it than I should.  Here’s the live version from Cash's San Quentin Prison show in 1969.

# 4 Folsom Prison Blues: The Man in Black’s signature prison song – raw lyrical approach almost unique in country music history – or pop and rock history for that matter.  Cash said that he wrote the song while in the military in 1953.  Here’s a live performance from the early 70's.   

#3 Hurt:  Cash’s version of Trent Reznor’s song was recorded just months before he died in 2003.  Cash got permission from Reznor to change some of the lyrics to make it more consistent with his Christian faith.  The video of the song (pardon the quality) is considered one of the greatest music video’s of all time.  

#2 I Walk the Line:  Johnny wrote this song early in his career and it became the song for which he is best known.  Here is a version recorded on the Tex Ritter Show when Johnny was 23 – pre ‘Man in Black’ days.  

#1 Ring of Fire:  My favorite Cash song – a beautiful melody and haunting lyrics.  Johnny came up with the idea of using the mariachi horns.  This easy-going acoustic version with Willie Nelson is really nice. 

Johnny's gear at the Country Music
Hall of Fame

One bonus video worth checking out is Cash's performance of Big River at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.  Among the cast of thousands onstage for the jam are Keith Richards, John Fogarty, Steve Cropper, the Edge and Carlos Santana - a testament to the wide reaching impact of the art of Johnny Cash.  

From Johnny Cash's last performance - July 5, 2003 - Hiltons, VA

I visited the Cash family plot in Hendersonville, outside of Nashville with my friend Ian.  It’s a typical municipal cemetery and the plot area is near the parking lot – a remarkably normal location for such a famous artist.  

Your blogger with Johnny's plaque at the Country
Music Hall of Fame in Nashville

At the Cash family plot

Cash's self-selected inscription captures his
conflicted desire to glorify God and the
relentless grace that never let him go.

Family connection:  My brother John has been doing research on our family history and discovered in the process that our family and Cash’s family were related in north Georgia in the 1800’s. Cash developed an interest in his family history later in life and therefore a good deal of information is available about that part of our family. 

Officially, we are fifth cousins twice removed. We share common Scottish roots. Our ancestors immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts in the 1670’s,settling in Virginia not long afterward. Later sons fought in the revolutionary war and as a result received land grants in north east Georgia in the late 1700’s. Johnny Cash’s great-grand-father moved from Georgia to Arkansas in 1850 where Johnny was born about 82 years later. Unfortunately for us the Cash line took most of the the musical talent and the nice full head of hair. 

John has created a beautiful web site about the family history based on his research.  At one time you could find a Farmer or a Fricks or a Cash almost anywhere in North Georgia.  But times change and people move on.  Its good to have a family heritage collected and accessible for future generations.  You can check the site out at Leatherwood Creek.

John Wayne

Newport Beach, California.  Visited June 2013

There are actors and there are movie stars.  John Wayne was a movie star, and he knew it.  When you see a John Wayne movie, that’s exactly what you see.  Whether it’s in the Old West, the Irish countryside, the sands of Iwo Jima – no matter where he was or who he was, he was John Wayne. 

Young Marion

The actor we know as John Wayne was born Marion Morrison on May 27, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa.  His father’s poor health necessitated a family move to California where young Marion worked for his dad’s farming and pharmacy practice.  “Duke” Morrison (a nickname his family gave him after a favorite dog) was a good athlete and student who, upon graduation from high school, sought admission to the Naval Academy.  


 

Marion Morrison at USC

When he didn’t receive an appointment, the strapping 6’4” Morrison enrolled at the University of Southern California with the intent to play football.  In a Hollywood-worthy twist, Marion hurt his back body surfing, ending his football career before it got started. With the help of his USC coach who pulled some strings, Morrison was able get a job working on a movie studio back lot. 

1930's "B" star John Wayne

In another classic Hollywood twist, Duke Morrison was moving scenery when he was noticed by a director who cast him in a small part in a minor movie.  This role was the beginning of a ten-year stretch of starring and support roles in B pictures.  But the experience allowed the accidental actor a chance to hone his craft.  Somewhere along the line his name was changed to John Wayne – though the exact story of when and how this happened is unclear.  

Perhaps most significantly, the actor made the acquaintance of prominent filmmaker John Ford.  In 1939, Ford cast John Wayne in the role of the Ringo Kid in “Stagecoach”.  The movie was a hit and the Duke emerged from it as a bona fide Hollywood star. He would go on to do some of his best work with Ford.

As Sgt. Stryker in "Sands of Iwo Jima"

With the onset of World War II in 1940, a number of Hollywood actors enlisted in the armed forces.  Wayne was assigned a draft deferment due to his age (34).  At various times he sought a higher draft classification but his studio tried to block his attempts to join up.  In later years it was revealed that the Duke had been accepted into the the O.S.S (precursor to the C.I.A), but he never received the notice letter and therefore did not enlist.  It is interesting to consider what the most famous actor in the world would have done in military espionage.  While he never served in the military, Wayne did support the war effort through visiting troops and fund-raising.   

There was no one bigger in the movies during the fifties and sixties than John Wayne.  The Duke was larger than the movies – he was becoming an American icon.  And a polarizing political figure as well.  Wayne was a self-described socialist in college but became a life-long politically conservative Republican and anti-communist.  Declassified documents reveal that Joseph Stalin thought him enough of a concern that he was considered for possible assassination by the KGB.  Wayne’s political opinions were well known and occasionally controversial; such as his support of the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950’s and his stated views on race in the late sixties.  The Duke was a significant fundraiser for the Republican Party through the 1960’s and was a prominent backer of Richard Nixon’s presidency and Ronald Reagan’s governorship of California.  Interestingly however, as he reached his later years Wayne befriended Jimmy Carter and became less contentious in his political statements. 

The Duke with President Nixon and Henry Kissinger

 
John Wayne was a mid-century man’s man.  He described himself as “an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag-waving patriot.”  He also smoked heavily, drank excessively (though apparently never in a way that undermined his work), spoke his mind and could be ornery and vindictive if he felt he’d been wronged.  In addition to three marriages, the Duke also carried on affairs with a number of actresses and had left his third wife for his secretary at the time of his death.  But friends also described him as loyal and generous, and surprisingly self-effacing for a film star. 

Late Sixties on "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in"

The Duke in a cameo role on "I Love Lucy" in the Fifties

Probably the most significant insight into John Wayne’s character is portrayed in his acting.  Over time, the Duke began to see his screen persona as an extension of his better self.  He protected and cultivated the roles he accepted as a stewardship of the icon he had created.  What John Wayne wanted to do was embody his sense of the American spirit – independent, strong, protective and motivated by duty to principle – on the big screen.  As he once remarked,

“I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either."
 

Friend and fellow actor Jimmy Stewart noted:  "I can't imagine there's anyone in the country who doesn't know who he is. Kids will be talking about him long after the rest of us are gone. John will make the history books, as Will Rogers did, because he lived his life to reflect the ideals of his country."

Statue of the Duke at John Wayne Airport in California

He didn’t always live up to those ideals, but in a way that is perhaps unique in film history, John Wayne cast himself in larger than life roles and then tried to live up to them as best he could.  

John Wayne with his best actor Oscar for "True Grit"

John Wayne’s last film role was in 1976 as the aging gunfighter John Book in “The Shootist”.  The story of a western legend who is watching his world pass him by was an appropriate valedictory to a 46 year film career which included 142 starring roles, an Academy Award (for best actor in “True Grit” - check out his acceptance speech here) and a perennial place in the top box office draws.  Three years after his performance in “The Shootist”, the Duke was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  He had lost a lung to cancer in the 1960’s but had seen the cancer go into remission.  Within a few months, the new cancer had spread and on June 11, 1979 John Wayne passed away at the age of 72.  

My son Grant at the Duke's spot at Grauman's Chinese Theater - 2004

I actually had the chance to see John Wayne in person – sort of.  In 1968, he directed the pro-Vietnam War film, “The Green Berets’.  The film premiered in Atlanta and Wayne was named honorary grand marshal at the annual Fourth of July parade. I was a nine-year-old boy standing in the crowd along Peachtree Street as the Duke road by waving to the crowd.  Not exactly a face time moment, but seeing John Wayne in person is something I’ve never forgotten.  

The Duke as Grand Marshal of the Atlanta 4th of July Parade 1968

This is a picture I took with my little polaroid camera standing in the parade crowd

John Wayne was buried on the side of a hill at Pacific View Memorial Park near his home in Newport Beach, California.    I did my pilgrimage to the Duke’s final resting place on a trip to California with my son Grant.  His small marker is virtually indistinguishable from any of the other graves in the cemetery.  The epitaph comes from an interview he gave late in life,

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

My Personal Top Five John Wayne Films:

Five:  Rio Bravo – 1959.  This isn’t a classic like “The Searchers” but it is an enjoyable “Duke and misfits against the bad guys” story with a surprisingly good Dean Martin and classic Walter Brennan. (Trailer)

Four:  McClintock – 1963.  I think this is a funny movie, with Wayne and Maureen O’Hara and a bunch of character actors having a blast out west.  Some of his best lines are in this movie.  (Trailer)

Three:  True Grit – 1969.  This is the Duke’s Oscar performance with the memorable horse-riding shootout.  Curmudgeonly Rooster Cogburn and astounding scenery. (Trailer) 

Two:  The Shootist – 1976.  His final movie is a low key, poignant performance where Wayne makes way for a wonderful supporting cast including Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard and an aging Jimmy Stewart. (Trailer)

One:  The Quiet Man – 1952.  The role of a retired boxer trying to find his roots in Ireland doesn’t seem like a Wayne project, but it’s a witty and heart-warming movie with a great supporting cast including Maureen O'Hara and a hilarious Barry Fitzgerald and Michaleen Flynn. (Trailer)