{"id":96132,"date":"2026-02-26T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=96132"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:01:32","slug":"happy-birthday-johnny-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=96132","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.&#8221; &#8212; Johnny Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums.jpg\" alt=\"Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums\" width=\"670\" height=\"420\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-96134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums-100x63.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums-200x125.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Top-Ten-Johnny-Cash-Albums-400x251.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s his birthday today. <\/p>\n<p>Johnny Cash, singing &#8220;Man in Black&#8221; in Denmark:<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1Okt0-Y38Pc\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nHere he is on Tex Ritter&#8217;s Ranch Party, 1956 or so. Great guitar solo, too. He&#8217;s not just strumming that guitar. The guitar CHUGS along, with an irresistible beat. It&#8217;s almost percussion. This is what Keith Richards calls in his autobiography &#8220;the rhythm of the tracks,&#8221; and it&#8217;s present in every great recording of the era. To poor boys, trains were symbolic. They could get you OUT of where you were at. Somewhere ELSE. Freedom. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0mIAxDxU-yI\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2.jpg\" alt=\"cash2\" width=\"395\" height=\"564\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-96140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2.jpg 395w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2-70x100.jpg 70w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2-140x200.jpg 140w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash2-280x400.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nTennessee Ernie Ford and Johnny Cash together. &#8220;Sing it pretty, Ern.&#8221; This particular kind of ease and grace and humor no longer exists (at least not in performance-style), it&#8217;s a lost energy, specific to another time and place, and it is all the more precious for that.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ixVUY5g5E7w\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nHere he is, in 1956, at a Sun Records Show, singing &#8220;I Walk the Line.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2FmN2Y09G6s\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nIn 1968, he gave his famed concert at Folsom Prison (one of the best concert recordings of all time). It shivers with a sense of danger, a sense of the tension in that room, in those men. The ROARS that greet him aren&#8217;t the polite roars of an appreciative audience. It&#8217;s <i>something else<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ksw1yXXH8Dw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nHere he is, with wife, the legendary June Carter, singing &#8220;If I Were a Carpenter&#8221; in 1978. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XiGiozxaiS0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nI can&#8217;t get enough of this performance. I wrote an entire post about it. The &#8220;Class of 55&#8221; &#8211; Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis &#8211; pay tribute to Elvis Presley in 1977, after Elvis died. They sing &#8220;This Train&#8221; and it&#8217;s just too much. The belt buckles ALONE. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Wi7MFZ84uSM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nAnd now, fast-forward, to Cash&#8217;s absolutely devastating 2002 &#8220;cover&#8221; of Nine Inch Nails&#8217; song &#8220;Hurt&#8221;. Trent Reznor wrote the song about his drug addiction, and was reportedly blown away by Cash&#8217;s rendition. It can&#8217;t even be called a &#8220;cover.&#8221; It&#8217;s almost like &#8230; Trent wrote this FOR Cash to do (subconsciously). Gird your loins. This is overwhelmingly emotional. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8AHCfZTRGiI\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>.<br \/>\nHe was authentic. <\/p>\n<p>Always.  <\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash.jpg\" alt=\"cash\" width=\"500\" height=\"431\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-96133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash-100x86.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash-200x172.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cash-400x345.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<small><em>Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here&#8217;s a link to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.venmo.com\/u\/Sheila-OMalley-3\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">my Venmo account<\/a>. And I&#8217;ve launched a Substack, <a href=\"https:\/\/sheilaomalley.substack.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sheila Variations 2.0<\/a>, if you&#8217;d like to subscribe.<\/em> <\/small><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/sheilaomalley.substack.com\/embed\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" style=\"border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s his birthday today. Johnny Cash, singing &#8220;Man in Black&#8221; in Denmark: Here he is on Tex Ritter&#8217;s Ranch Party, 1956 or so. Great guitar solo, too. He&#8217;s not just strumming that guitar. The guitar CHUGS along, with an irresistible &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=96132\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,39],"tags":[2432,2095,2437,2243,2715,2753],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96132"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190601,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96132\/revisions\/190601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}