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— Scott Allison and George Goethals
I always liked Johnny Cash. You have put together a lot of his personal history that I never really knew about, and it enhanced my image of him. Thank you for that.
A true American legend indeed. It’s not hard to see how a childhood of tragedy and abuse can lead to such self-destructive behavior– but turning that pain and anger into kindness is no easy trick. As you say, he was a complicated man with a big heart; it’s a shame that so many others like him never halt their fall into oblivion.
I had the Cash album “Look at them Beans” as a child in the 70’s. Great album. My parents had “Live at San Quentin” but us kids were not allowed to listen to it because of the profanity. Of course when Mom or Dad left my big brother to watch us, we immediately found it and played it….Overall we must have listened to that album 100 times.
To me, Cash never seemed like a happy person but I think he was content in the 80’s up until his death. He had obviously found an inner peace as a result of his faith in God and the support from his family.
Johnny Cash has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. His childhood story of having an abusive father and growing up during the great depression inspired many of his songs. When Cash admitted he had a problem and let people help him was when he became ‘heroic’. Cash admitted that he was “the biggest sinner of them all,” yet he had a big heart.
One of my all time favorite movies is Walk The Line staring Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. the film was nominated for five Academy Awards. The film focuses on Cash’s younger life, his romance with June Carter, and his ascent to the country music scene.
While Johnny Cash’s transformation from drug addict to great, respectable musician is heroic in a sense, I believe that the hidden hero in this story is really June Carter. Without her help, it is possible that Cash would have continued spiraling downward on his self-destructive path, and his career may have been much shorter if that was the case. By coming to his rescue and helping him get past his addictions, Carter was able to show Cash that he did possess heroic qualities, and was the game-changing factor for him.