A favorite of my grandmother, who often sang the chorus from Wabash Cannonball while cleaning around the house, Johnny Cash’ words have always been dear to my heart. Having lived a tumultuous life of both profound hardship and glorious fame, Johnny Cash died in 2003, leaving with us not only some of the greatest music ever known but a few of the best quotes to live by as well. Let’s explore a few together:
Being both realistic and optimistic, Cash would become known for his dedicated devotion to the inspiring of others. When asked to describe it, he explained,
“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”
― Johnny Cash
Having given concerts to prisoners and written the widely-loved Folsom Prison Blues in 1953, it’s no wonder that Cash had a heart for compassion, even for the guilty and imprisoned. He explained it in a quote from the movie Walk The Line starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon which was made about his life,
Record Company Executive: “Your fans are church folk, Johnny. Christians. They don’t wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin’ to cheer ’em up.”
Johnny Cash: [pause] “Well, they’re not Christians, then.”
Known as “The Man in Black,” the predominantly dark-clad gent most often wore black for many reasons. In a song by the same name, Cash wrote, “I wear black for the poor and the beaten down, living on the hopeless, hungry side of town, and I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime but still is there because he’s a victim of the times.”
“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.”
After meeting the love of his life, June Carter, to which Johnny’s undying devotion became widely known and whom he later married, Cash formed a musical duo with June, performing and recording numerous famous tunes. When asked for his description of what Paradise might look like, Cash touchingly uttered the famous quote, “This morning, with her, having coffee.” Their lovely duets became highly sought-after hits, beloved to millions. Also noteworthy is the fact that Johnny died less than five months after the death of June in 2003, leaving many fans believing in both the power of true love and the profound pain of a broken heart.
Following up, he stated,
“There’s unconditional love there. You hear that phrase a lot but it’s real with me and her. She loves me in spite of everything, in spite of myself. She has saved my life more than once. She’s always been there with her love, and it has certainly made me forget the pain for a long time, many times. When it gets dark and everybody’s gone home and the lights are turned off, it’s just me and her.”
In his repeated struggles through life, Cash explained the duality within him as,
“Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.”
After Cash’ death, music greats comprised a tribute edition of Rolling Stone magazine, on which the cover featured Cash in October 2003. Inside the issue, praises from famous folks and musicians from Bono to Al Gore to Merle Haggard adorned the pages, ending with an especially astute observation from long-time friend Bob Dylan. Dylan stated of Cash, “He is what the land and country is all about, the heart and soul of it personified and what it means to be here; and he said it all in plain English,” Dylan said. “Listen to him, and he will always bring you to your senses.”
And in his loss, we might find comfort in some of his own words, since he stated once,
“There’s no way around grief and loss: you can dodge all you want, but sooner or later you just have to go into it, through it, and, hopefully, come out the other side. The world you find there will never be the same as the world you left.”
