Love is a burning thing.
October 31, 2007 5:00 PM Subscribe
"The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me, and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven." Johnny Cash's last performance on July 5, 2003 at the Carter Family Fold. Folsom Prison Blues, I Walk The Line, and Ring Of Fire.
Man I love Johnny Cash, I got a little teary. That's awesome. I sure hope you're restin' easy with June somewhere.
posted by MasonDixon at 5:15 PM on October 31, 2007
posted by MasonDixon at 5:15 PM on October 31, 2007
That was so sad and yet so wonderful.
I know I'm really filling in my own story here, but it always seemed to me that after June passed he lost his will to live and just wanted to leave the proverbial Dodge. That's hard for me to understand, but if one is to believe the his words and the words of those close to him, well...Goddamn, did he love that woman with a passion most of us could only hope to know, let alone express...
The duality of the "badman" mixed with someone who was so emotionally devoted to those he cared about is a large part of what made JR so special to me.
posted by rollbiz at 5:42 PM on October 31, 2007
I know I'm really filling in my own story here, but it always seemed to me that after June passed he lost his will to live and just wanted to leave the proverbial Dodge. That's hard for me to understand, but if one is to believe the his words and the words of those close to him, well...Goddamn, did he love that woman with a passion most of us could only hope to know, let alone express...
The duality of the "badman" mixed with someone who was so emotionally devoted to those he cared about is a large part of what made JR so special to me.
posted by rollbiz at 5:42 PM on October 31, 2007
Johnny went down to the crossroads with Robert Johnson, can't you hear it?
posted by caddis at 6:19 PM on October 31, 2007
posted by caddis at 6:19 PM on October 31, 2007
I saw him & June play together at the Del Mar Fair once. At one point they did a medley of Lynyrd Skynyrd with their son (who was wearing a confederate Skynyrd shirt -- it was clearly a father/son bonding thing).
Best day at the fair. Ever.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:38 PM on October 31, 2007
Best day at the fair. Ever.
posted by miss lynnster at 6:38 PM on October 31, 2007
That clip that flapjax linked, now that is truly Johnny at his best. The main linked videos are awesome as here is the man at the end, very aged, racked with disease, and yet he makes a noise that few if any living musicians today could match. However, the '59 Folsom Prison clip is raw power, raw, raw power. Wow. It's a post crossroads visit, no doubt. Jesus save, sorry Lucifer.
posted by caddis at 6:46 PM on October 31, 2007
posted by caddis at 6:46 PM on October 31, 2007
Wow! Beautiful.
It brought sweet tears to my eyes. Thanks for posting this.
posted by dougzilla at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2007
It brought sweet tears to my eyes. Thanks for posting this.
posted by dougzilla at 7:56 PM on October 31, 2007
Never trust a man who doesn't like Johnny Cash.
posted by now i'm piste at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by now i'm piste at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]
I remember in 1994 or 95... Johnny Cash shared a stage with Beck at Emo's in Austin during SXSW. We couldn't get in, because that show was packed with industry badges like no other show I have ever seen.
But it was before the more stringent city noise ordinances went in, and we just sat on the curb outside (it's an outdoor stage) and listened...listened...
.
posted by kaseijin at 8:29 PM on October 31, 2007
But it was before the more stringent city noise ordinances went in, and we just sat on the curb outside (it's an outdoor stage) and listened...listened...
.
posted by kaseijin at 8:29 PM on October 31, 2007
He died in September 2003, aged 71.
Damn, he could still play that guitar.
The guy filling in on lead was no Luther, though.
posted by yhbc at 9:38 PM on October 31, 2007
Damn, he could still play that guitar.
The guy filling in on lead was no Luther, though.
posted by yhbc at 9:38 PM on October 31, 2007
You watch "I Walk The Line" from 2003, then you watch this from 1959. That's almost 45 years between the two, and if you look at his face in both performances, you can't help but understand what "timeless" means when referring to music.
Plus, he seems to have much more of a sense of humor in 2003 than in 1959, despite his physical condition. Oh, and he couldn't hit the low note in 1959, either.
Fantastic.
posted by davejay at 10:16 PM on October 31, 2007
Plus, he seems to have much more of a sense of humor in 2003 than in 1959, despite his physical condition. Oh, and he couldn't hit the low note in 1959, either.
Fantastic.
posted by davejay at 10:16 PM on October 31, 2007
Never trust a man who doesn't like Johnny Cash.
My iPod is full of his music, and I'm a fan. My wife, however, finds his voice grating and prefers to listen to Genesis.
Did I make a mistake?
just kidding, honey!
the lamb is lying down in Jackson...
posted by davejay at 10:25 PM on October 31, 2007
My iPod is full of his music, and I'm a fan. My wife, however, finds his voice grating and prefers to listen to Genesis.
Did I make a mistake?
just kidding, honey!
the lamb is lying down in Jackson...
posted by davejay at 10:25 PM on October 31, 2007
My wife, however, finds his voice grating
Ahh, the voice, the human voice. Who will be drawn to one voice, or repelled by another, and why? It's very mysterious, and in this mystery lies the beauty of human musical communication. Johnny Cash is an interesting example, since he is, by no usual standard definition, a "good singer". He has very little range, his is not a particularly versatile voice. There's very little variation in his vocal style, his delivery. But the human honesty, the weight behind his delivery, is deep. I love to hear him sing, but it has more to do with his personality, and what he stands for, musically, than his voice itself. Also, though, for me, here is where the singer as songwriter is most important, most crucial. I don't really think I could enjoy most of Cash's recordings nearly as much as I do if I didn't know that he wrote the songs he's singing.
Leonard Cohen, Stuart Staples (Tindersticks), Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Richard Thompson are some other singers, for example, who I have, to some degree or other, the same feeling about.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:25 AM on November 1, 2007
Ahh, the voice, the human voice. Who will be drawn to one voice, or repelled by another, and why? It's very mysterious, and in this mystery lies the beauty of human musical communication. Johnny Cash is an interesting example, since he is, by no usual standard definition, a "good singer". He has very little range, his is not a particularly versatile voice. There's very little variation in his vocal style, his delivery. But the human honesty, the weight behind his delivery, is deep. I love to hear him sing, but it has more to do with his personality, and what he stands for, musically, than his voice itself. Also, though, for me, here is where the singer as songwriter is most important, most crucial. I don't really think I could enjoy most of Cash's recordings nearly as much as I do if I didn't know that he wrote the songs he's singing.
Leonard Cohen, Stuart Staples (Tindersticks), Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Richard Thompson are some other singers, for example, who I have, to some degree or other, the same feeling about.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:25 AM on November 1, 2007
Listening to late Cash makes any red-blooded man well up inside.
It's something woman just can't understand.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:49 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]
It's something woman just can't understand.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:49 AM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]
Okay, I'd like to preface this comment by saying two things: one, I love Johnny cash; two, I'm no loony audiophile. Yeah, I prefer records to CDs, but I own an iPod, and I listen to MP3s. But am I really the only one who finds the audio quality of YouTube to be so atrocious as to be completely unlistenable? The quality of the link in Flapjax's first comment is better than the main link, granted, but it still sounds like a 32 kbps MP3 to me. I see tonnes of lengthy YouTube music posts around here all the time, and I just can't enjoy them. Do you all really not notice this, or do you notice, and just not care? I'm honestly curious.
posted by freem at 6:40 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by freem at 6:40 AM on November 1, 2007
I guess I notice if I think about it, but I don't care. Maybe I'm used to it because I listen to little cheap radios all the time.
posted by JanetLand at 6:51 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by JanetLand at 6:51 AM on November 1, 2007
It's something woman just can't understand.
That is a pantload.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:00 AM on November 1, 2007
That is a pantload.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:00 AM on November 1, 2007
My sister was at this concert. She wasn't sure who he was at the time, she just remembered the old man who sang Ring of Fire. I still haven't forgiven her, but now, through the magic of the internet and Metafilter, I have my revenge. Many thanks!
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:48 AM on November 1, 2007
posted by 1f2frfbf at 8:48 AM on November 1, 2007
It's something woman just can't understand.
*quite* the pantload.
thanks so much for posting this, earbucket.
posted by ethel at 11:55 PM on November 5, 2007
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Folsom Prison Blues, 1959.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:15 PM on October 31, 2007 [1 favorite]