A boy says goodbye to his hero

I know there are already several threads about Johnny Cash's passing, but I felt I had to have my own thread. This wasn't merely one of my favorite artists passing away.

I grew up listening to Johnny Cash. One of my earliest memories was putting my mom's copy of Live from Folsom Prison on the record player.

When his health started to fade in recent years....I knew it was only a matter of time before he'd no longer be with us. When June died, I hurt for him.

Johnny Cash was a true American Hero. Not in the way they toss the word hero around now. Johnny truly believed in the working man. Johnny believed in God & Country. Johnny fought for the underdog.

So now that Johnny has passed, part of myself has gone with him. A piece of blue collar America went with him.

Johnny, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for being the voice of the working man. Thank you.

Tonight I'll get a bottle of whiskey, take my guitar off the wall and pay tribute to the best friend that I never met.

Goodnight Johnny, June's waiting for you.

it couldn't have been said better.

-bobby

Wow. I don't even know what to say. I have been fearing and expecting this day for a long time.

RIP Johnny Cash

I'm hurt and speechless. A piece of Americana has passed.

word, amen, and everything else.

Well said my friend.

Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing him perform live. I think the last time that he came around Minneapolis was five or six years ago. I always wanted to be in a theater and hear the words, "I'm Johnny Cash". I prayed that one day his health would allow him to hit the road again, but knew that day would never come.

His influence was spread far and wide. Still to this day, he's the only man to be in both the Country and Rock & Roll hall of fames. He was a living legend when he was physically with us, and now is a legend living in our hearts.

Peace

..very well said.

beautifully said.

Thanks Cash, for everything.

Cash... i too share your feelings for the great Johnny Cash. I was lucky enuff to actually see him perform, in Reno, in support of his first American recording. i travelled to memphis to sit on the bench outside sun studios, and bought a record there, one he had recorded. that was my graceland. for kicks i went to folsom, parked the truck, and just listened. today, i am going to do a lot of listening.

Truer words were never spoken, my friend.

Godspeed, Johnny.

Awww that was very well said.

Word. Thank you, Cash.

that brought a tear to my eye.

LA TIMES - Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" who became a towering figure in American music with such hits as "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line" and "A Boy Named Sue," died today. He was 71.

Cash died of complications from diabetes that resulted in respiratory failure, his manager, Lou Robin, said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville, where he died at 3 a.m.

"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time," Robin said.

Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV Video Music Awards, where his video "Hurt" had been nominated in seven categories and won one, for cinematography.

He had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years. His second wife, singer June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire," died in May.

"More than any single person I can think of, Johnny Cash broadened interest in country music all around the world," said Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association. "He was just a huge star, and became a cultural icon in America."

Dozens of hits like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the working man and the downtrodden.

Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice, which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing about prisoners, heartaches and everyday life. He wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.

"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy Named Sue," a Shel Silverstein song he took to No. 1 in 1969, was a comical story of a father who gives his son a girl's name to make him tough.

Cash recorded more than 1,500 songs, according to his Web site. In his 1997 autobiography "Cash," he said he tried to speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in the entertainment media, not to mention the political and educational establishments."

His career spanned generations, with each finding something of value in his simple records, many of which used his trademark rockabilly rhythm.

He was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry! Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship and recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major influence.

"His influence spread over many generations of different people," said Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. "I loved him as singer and a writer." He recalled that two of his favorite Cash songs, "I Walk the Line" and "Ballad of a Teenage Queen," were part of the Stones' repertoire.

Country singer Barbara Mandrell recalled his star quality.

"Truly I can only think of two people in my life, where you knew it when they were in the building just by their presence. The air would just get exciting and stimulating and electric even if you couldn't see them. Those two people were Johnny Cash and Billy Graham," she said.

Cash won 11 Grammy Awards -- most recently this year, when "Give My Love To Rose" was honored as best male country vocal performance -- and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

June Carter Cash, who partnered with him in hits such as "Jackson," was the daughter of country music founder Maybelle Carter and had a long career, first as part of her family's act. Cash's daughter Rosanne Cash also became a top singer.

"It's a sad day in Tennessee, but a great day in Heaven," said Merle Kilgore, best man at their wedding. "The 'Man in Black' is now wearing white as he joins his wife June in the angel band."

Truck driver Bobby Williams of Spokane, Wash., en route from Tennessee to Tampa, Fla., stopped and bowed his head for a moment when he heard Cash had died.

"He was the greatest man ever picked a guitar. He spoke to the American man. He did songs people could understand and relate to," said Williams, who then sang a few lyrics of his favorite Cash recording, "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky."

The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years, and he was host of his own ABC variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson.

In the 1990s, Cash found a new artistic life -- but relatively scant radio play -- recording with rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American Recordings. In 1998, after his American album "Unchained" won a Grammy, Cash made headlines with a trade publication ad showing him making an obscene gesture with a sarcastic message thanking "the Nashville music establishment and country radio for your support." He felt they had unfairly cast him aside.

But he was back on the charts with the 2002 album "American IV: The Man Comes Around." It included his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt."

He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and acted in films and television shows.

In his 1971 hit "Man in Black," Cash said his black clothing symbolized the downtrodden. Cash had been "The Man in Black" since he joined the Grand Ole Opry at age 25.

"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since."

John R. Cash was born in 1932, in Kingsland, Ark., one of seven children. When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother and hero, Jack, was fatally injured in an accident. The tragedy had a lasting impact on Cash, and he later pointed to it as a possible reason for the melancholy tone of much of his music.

He learned guitar while stationed in Germany with the Air Force, recalling later that he was so lonely that "if I couldn't have sung all those old country songs, I don't think I could have made it."

Cash launched his career in Memphis after his discharge in 1954, performing on the radio and auditioning with Sun Records, which also launched the careers of Presley, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis. He ultimately recorded the single "Hey Porter," which became a hit.

"Folsom Prison Blues" went to No. 4 on the country charts in 1956 and featured Cash's most famous couplet: "I shot a man in Reno/ just to watch him die."

Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live at prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music hits.

Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and sometimes rowdy lifestyle, many people thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he battled addiction to pills on and off and received a suspended jail sentence in 1965 on a misdemeanor narcotics charge in Texas.

"When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio someday. I never thought about fame until it started happening to me," he said in 1988. "Then it was hard to handle. That's why I turned to pills."

He credited wife June, whom he married in 1968, with helping him battle drugs. Together, they had one child, John Carter Cash, a musician and producer.

Rosanne is Cash's daughter from his first marriage, to Vivian Liberto, which ended in 1966. Their three other children were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara.

Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with encouraging him to pursue a singing career.

"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."

well said, a bottle of whiskey and a guitar is afitting tribute and i tip my bottle and break a string yuor way..."when they free me from that prison"....

I can't add much to this beautiful tribute. He was one of the few thigns my father and I have in common. He was an American treasure, and I will miss him terribly.

Well you wonder why I always dress in black

Why you never see bright colors on my back

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone

Well there's a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down

Livin' in the hopeless hungry side of town

I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime

But is there because he's a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who've never read

Or listened to the words that Jesus said

About the road to happiness through love and charity

Why you'd think he's talking straight to you and me

Well we're doin' mighty fine I do suppose

In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes

But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back

Up front there oughta be a man in black

I wear it for the sick and lonely old

For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold

I wear the black in mourning for the lives that could have been

Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And I wear it for the thousands who have died

Believin' that the Lord was on their side

I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died

Believin' that we all were on their side

Well there's things that never will be right I know

And things need changin' everywhere you go

But till we start to make a move to make a few things right

You'll never see me wear a suit of white

Oh I'd love to wear a rainbow every day and tell the world that everything's okay

But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

Till things're brighter I'm the man in black

*nods to cash*
well said.
well said, indeed.

jesse