"The woods would be very silent if the only birds that sang were those who sang best..." - Henry David Thoreau
"Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry
And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.
And the tears that I cried for that woman are gonna flood you Big River.
Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die." - Johnny Cash, Big River
Best love song, ever.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
Another funny bit, I can't remember if it's Folsom Prison or San Quentin, but there's a great bit where he sings this song about the prison guards, and not a very complimentary song either. Then afterwards, Johnny says "If any of the guards are still talking to me after that number, I could use a glass of water" or something like that. I just love that sort of sardonic sense of humor.
Years ago, I read in one of the Pink Floyd books that apparently either Johnny or Nick Lowe (who at the time was married to one of Johnny's daughters) talked of them doing a record together, I guess Nick producing Johnny or something of that order, and supposedly one of them mentioned in an interview that they were gonna do "a Pink Floyd song", but apparently such a project never got past the "talking about it" phase. I've always wondered which Floyd song Johnny might have done. I think there's a few of them he might have been able to handle really well.
I immediately thought of "If."
If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late.
And if I were a good man, I'd talk with you more often than I do.
If I were to sleep, I could dream.
If I were afraid, I could hide.
If I go insane, please don't put your wires in my brain.
If I were the moon, I'd be cool.
If I were a rule, I would bend.
If I were a good man, I'd understand the spaces between friends.
If I were alone, I would cry.
And if I were with you, I'd be home and dry.
And if I go insane, will you still let me join in with the game?
If I were a swan, I'd be gone.
If I were a train, I'd be late again.
If I were a good man, I'd talk to you more often than I do.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Not a fan but I spent a lot of time listening to Johnny Cash in the late 60s or early 70s. My older brother always had eclectic taste in music as a kid. While we were all still listening to the Beatles, Stones, AM Top 40 radio, etc. he was listening to Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Phil Ochs, Pete Seger, Johnny Cash, and any number of bluegrass and folk music he could get his hands on. I remember having Folsom Prison in our collection and playing it a lot. I also remember watching Johnny's variety show on TV. Great memories. I respect Cash a lot but I'm not interested in this type of music. Out of curiosity I played his cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage." Didn't like it at all.
Yeah, that's true. If you've heard the Coldplay song, you can tell that it was tailor-made to fit right in with the mood of the American Recordings albums he was doing at the time.
The rock covers he did on those albums were pretty amazing. Everyone talks about "Hurt," and rightly so, but the one that really knocked my socks off was his take on Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage." His arrangement was radically different from Soundgarden's, yet he put just as much emotion into his performance as SG did on the original. I just love the chugging acoustic guitar riff on the first half of Cash's version. Those must have been some of the most bizarre lyrics he'd even been given to work with, too.
Speaking of Cash and rock, has anyone heard the song he did with U2, off the Zooropa album? I never cared much for that record, except for "The Wanderer."
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