Sunday, February 26, 2006

Johnny Cash.

It's the birthday of the singer and songwriter Johnny Cash, born in
Kingsland, Arkansas (1932). He grew up in the middle of the Great
Depression, his parents struggling to pay the bills on a cotton farm
they'd bought with help from a New Deal program. When he was twelve
years old Cash watched his brother die in a table-saw accident. He
never forgot how his mother had to return to working the farm the day
after the funeral.

It was his mother who played guitar and sang songs to Cash and his
siblings. But Cash didn't learn how to play music himself until he
enlisted in the Air Force and went off to Germany. He began playing
music and performing there with his fellow servicemen.

One night, they were showing a movie on the base about the conditions
at a prison back in America called Folsom Prison. The movie made such
an impression on Cash that he decided to write a song about it called
"Folsom Prison Blues." When Cash got discharged, he took a job as a
door-to-door appliance salesman in Memphis. But around the same time,
he hooked up with a couple other musicians and got an audition at Sun
Records. The third song they recorded was "Folsom Prison Blues" and it
made Cash famous.

He married June Carter in 1968 and they were married until June's death
in May of 2003. Johnny Cash died a few months later.

8 comments:

secondave MSN said...

Poem: "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash. ьзд Hi Lo Music. Reprinted
with permission.
Folsom Prison Blues

I hear the train a comin'; it's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when.
I'm stuck at Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin' on.
But that train keeps rollin' on down to San Antone.

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son
Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns."
But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry.

I bet there's rich folk eatin' in a fancy dining car.
They're prob'ly drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars,
But I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free,
But those people keep a movin', and that's what tortures me.

Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was
mine,
I bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay,
And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.

kungfu MSN said...

  Thanks for the memories   jimmy                     thanks  brings back nice memories , I was a fan of

secondave MSN said...

I ordered the DVD 'Walk The Line' from netflix. I understand it is up
for an Academy Award. I bought the latest Folsom Prison CD and am
enjoying it a lot even though his voice is a little raspy. I thought it
gives the recording character that only Johnny Cash could provide.
When I was 15 (1955) I bought his latest 78 -- a dollar something, a
huge amount for me, and accidently broke it on the way home on my
bicycle . The store owner sympathized but no refund. I then threw the
cracked 78 into the store in a drive by shooting out of extreme
disappointment and anger. He merely smiled and swept up the pieces --
good man.
Second Avenue.

"Kwitchyerbellyakin."
- Irish saying

secondave MSN said...

That particular music store was on the south side of Wellington Street
between 1st and 2nd. I could be wrong of course. I wonder if that store
is still there? The owner must have retired many years ago. God bless
him.
Second Avenue.

"The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves:
we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate
ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We
forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice
others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves."
- Eric Hoffer

bobb MSN said...

Wonderful story of your "drive by shooting" all those years ago, Bill. Johnny Cash would have likely enjoyed hearing that story as well.

BobB

sandy19465 MSN said...

This message has been deleted by the author.

margo MSN said...

 
 
Yes it was Buckley's. Margo

rainy_day_man_44 MSN said...

sandy you are right.   buckleys was the record store on wellington.   bought many 45's there