# Johnny Cash Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2003, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173 "2003-09-12T10:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/101 "2003-09-13T02:57:20Z")
I think the legend of Johnny Cash can easily be summed up in the fact that I know that a few states away , my grandma is shedding tears over her favorite artist, and the 40+ age gap between us doesn’t stop me from shedding tears for mine. I’ve been choked up all day. I was not surprised that he’s gone, I am glad to hear that he will be with June again. The strange thing is that I went out with my sister and some friends last night- we gave Johnny tribute without even knowing he was gone. We sang “I’ve been Everywhere” (I flubbed the lines, but once had them memorized perfectly- took me over a month to get that one right) and “Jackson” and talked about how much our grandma loved him. Woke up with a killer hangover and the first words that came out of the radio was that the Man in Black had left us. The world is a poorer place without Johnny. Thanks Johnny for giving us laughs & tears, heartache and hope. Jaime ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/102 "2003-09-13T03:06:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AuntiePam \* > **I don’t think he ever saw the irony in playing Sunday Morning Comin’ Down at 3 a.m., rousing the family from their beds and demanding that they sit down and appreciate some good music.** What irony? It sounds like how your dad tried to get the rest of you to understand his life. In a genre full of rip-roarin’, let’s-get-drunk-and-screw songs _Sunday Morning Comin’ Down_ showed the other side of the coin, quietly, haltingly, and regretfully like a hangover. Johnny was alone in the picture he painted, cut off from the rest of the world by the life he lived and the addiction he couldn’t shake. Morning was not his time; he moved shadowless through a landscape he could no longer be a part of. Damn, Kris Kristofferson has written some good songs but that might be his best and Johnny was his best interpreter. Besides himself, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/103 "2003-09-13T03:06:33Z")
I grew up listening to Johnny, and George, and Hag. Johnny Cash was The Man. There’s no one out there who’ll fill his shoes, or any of theirs in fact, once they’re gone. There’s only one I can think of who might come close. I’m pretty sure every person in the building at work today stopped by to ask if I’d heard that he died. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/104 "2003-09-13T06:16:42Z")
“Come home, come home, it’s supper time. I’m going home, at last.” That song always teared me up. No more so than today. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/105 "2003-09-13T07:17:48Z")
I played his version of “Wayfaring Stranger” tonight. \*There is no sickness, no toil or danger In that bright land to which I go I’m going there to see my father And all my loved ones who’ve gone on I’m just going over Jordan I’m just going over home\* ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/106 "2003-09-13T11:45:57Z")
A co-worker of mine came up to me last night, gave me a hug, and told me she was sorry that my hero Johnny Cash had died. I had not heard until that moment, and it hit me so hard I had to sit down and compose myself before I could see any of my patients. This friend of mine had given me “The Essential Johnny Cash” three-cd set for my birthday last year, and has heard me try to play his songs badly for her on my guitar. She touched me a lot last night, and it was appreciated. My good friend **TLD** has a wonderful tribute to Johnny Cash on **G’Dope**. It’s here, and it says it all: [http://pub31.ezboard.com/fgdopefrm3.showMessage?topicID=977.topic](http://pub31.ezboard.com/fgdopefrm3.showMessage?topicID=977.topic) I will be wearing my black scrubs to work tonight. “We’ll meet again. Don’t know where, don’t know when. But we’ll meet again some sunny day.” Goodbye, Johnny Cash. You are the greatest! Quasimodem ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/107 "2003-09-13T11:53:18Z")
**Tigole** , thanks for writing that and sharing it with us. It was beautiful and very moving. Q ---
**Author:** ![WillSantini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@WillSantini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillSantini)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/108 "2003-09-13T16:06:02Z")
Johnny, I hope you have found peace. Thank you for the wonderful music. I played _Ring of Fire_ and toasted you last night. ---
**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/109 "2003-09-13T21:36:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kilt-wearin’ man \* > \*\*“Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash.” > – Bono \*\* Thanks for the laugh in a sad week. That’s the first intelligent, true or well-crafted item I’ve seen attributed to Bono since before Joshua Tree. I have great memories or Johnny Cash. My mom was a dyed in the wool country fan, and Johnny was one of her favorites. I remember as a kid singing along with her in the kitchen while “Reverend Mr. Black” played on the stereo. That was one of the first times I realized that music wasn’t, by necessity, generation. Where Zevon sang of pain and loss with an underscoring of acceptance and broad streaks of humor, Johnny made us feel it in our bones. He made us realize with the tremulous warble of that rich baritone that, even if we didn’t realize it, we had the capacity to endure whatever the world threw at us. To me, Warren gave us perspective. Johnny gave us strength. You might not know where it came from, but listening to Johnny Cash, you knew there was a strong foundation to last through whatever came along. These two men were my formost icons for endurance, and to have lost them in the same week is simply astounding. I’ll don’t think I’ll ever forgive the fates, though, for taking John Ritter on the same day. Not that I’ll miss him; his work bored me silly and I think he was a mediocre talent at best, but I was genuinely pissed off that his death, since it was unexpected, took away from a great deal of the coverage I thought Johnny deserved. At least in the Phoenix news market it was about 5 minutes of retrospective on Ritter’s work on 3’s Company, how he bounced around TV and broadway, got a comeback shot with his new sitcom and died of a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Then came about a minute of “Legendary performer Johnny Cash…” That was exactly backward in terms of how the news budget should have been set up, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/110 "2003-09-14T00:15:16Z")
A funny Johnny Cash anecdote to lighten the mood: A few years ago I had heard that the Man in Black had put out a new live album so I went to FYE to look for it. I was browsing around the isles with what must been a dumb look on my face because someone actually came up and asked if I need any help. I told the kid that I was looking for the new Johnny Cash album and he just kind of stared at me and started giggling. I asked what was so funny and he said… “Johnny Cash? Is he a rapper?” ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/111 "2003-09-14T00:39:11Z")
I have been a Johnny Cash fan since I was 7 years old. I was lucky enough to catch him on tour in 1997. I believe it was his last tour. I cried as I watched his _Hurt_ video. I wore black yesterday and today. I think I’ll be wearing black for a few more days to come. Just like Luther, I play it kind of strange ;). ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/112 "2003-09-15T15:02:29Z")
_Time_ magazine’s website has a nice article about Johnny Cash this week - it’s linked from CNN’s site. I was glad to read that the somber mood of the _Hurt_ video was just the video - apparently they all had a lot of fun shooting it. From all accounts, he was in relatively good spirits right up to the end, just as it should have been. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/113 "2003-09-15T22:26:35Z")
I had to drive to Hendersonville today, even went down Johnny Cash Parkway to do it. The first thing that I noticed was that the sign announcing the Parkway was draped in flowers and black ribbons. There were “We miss you, Johnny” signs here and there, the flag in front of House of Cash was at half mast, and folks were arriving at the funeral home for Johnny’s funeral. Spotted some battered car with a Wisconsin tag which read “J Cash.” Have a hard time believing that the owner was able to make it to here in the car, but apparently they did. My father and step-mother moved to Hendersonville in the late 1970s. This was at a time when the “new wave” country artists were moving into the area. Folks like Johnny and his next door neighbor (the other man in black) Roy Orbison, were already there. I’d spend the school year in Ohio with my mother, and my summers in Tennessee with my father and step-mother. Every summer when I got there, they’d be filled with scandalous stories of what the “new wave” stars were doing. All of them were parading about, demanding special treatment because they were “stars.” Meanwhile, Johnny and his family were “just folks.” The fame and wealth never went to their heads. It does look like, however, that the next album is going to be [interesting](http://www.tennessean.com/entertainment/news/cash/archives/03/09/39295311.shtml?Element_ID=39295311) > [@](#): > > In recent sessions Cash had recorded a couple of Stephen Foster songs, the gospel classic His Eye Is On The Sparrow, the Hawaiian standard Aloha 'Oe and an original gospel song based the verse in I Corinthians 15:55 that includes the line ‘‘Oh death where is thy sting?’’ according to Ferguson. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/114 "2003-09-16T02:58:47Z")
Here’s the email I sent on Friday to almost everyone I know: Many of you probably have heard that Johnny Cash has died of complications of his diabetes, at a relatively young age of 71. I knew it had to come sometime soon, with his health, but no matter when, it would be too soon. You can read a good summary of his career here: [http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773](http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773) but I will always remember him as the outspoken yet quiet Christian man whom no one could criticize. He had been through the drugs , the lonely times, the very poor childhood, and everyone knew it. He was the only person in pop music who could get away with performing gospel songs without a trace of irony and without anyone acting like he shouldn’t. Constantly aware of the ignored and downtrodden in society, he connected with people in a socially concious way that never got polically muddled and estranged people. No one could deny his concern or his genuine approach to his art and his faith. The review on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) for his album “American 3: Solitary Man” starts off, “The simple truth is that Johnny Cash could read the phone book and make it compelling. At times this set sounds like a deathbed recitation rather than a collection of songs, but the man’s aura and mystique carry the day.” Johnny straddled both country and rock styles, getting elected to both halls of fame, and in the words of Rolling Stone, seemed to embody verything that was good, bad, and contradictory about America. There was never a doubt about his core values, though especially over the last 30+ years of his career. I see that the news of his death has put six of his albums into the top ten for today at Amazon. Those people are going to get more than their money’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/115 "2003-09-16T03:04:54Z")
Here’s the email I sent on Friday to almost everyone I know: Many of you probably have heard that Johnny Cash has died of complications of his diabetes, at a relatively young age of 71. I knew it had to come sometime soon, with his health, but no matter when, it would be too soon. You can read a good summary of his career here: [http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773](http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773) but I will always remember him as the outspoken yet quiet Christian man whom no one could criticize. He had been through the drugs , the lonely times, the very poor childhood, and everyone knew it. He was the only person in pop music who could get away with performing gospel songs without a trace of irony and without anyone acting like he shouldn’t. Constantly aware of the ignored and downtrodden in society, he connected with people in a socially concious way that never got polically muddled and estranged people. No one could deny his concern or his genuine approach to his art and his faith. The review on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) for his album “American 3: Solitary Man” starts off, “The simple truth is that Johnny Cash could read the phone book and make it compelling. At times this set sounds like a deathbed recitation rather than a collection of songs, but the man’s aura and mystique carry the day.” Johnny straddled both country and rock styles, getting elected to both halls of fame, and in the words of Rolling Stone, seemed to embody verything that was good, bad, and contradictory about America. There was never a doubt about his core values, though especially over the last 30+ years of his career. I see that the news of his death has put six of his albums into the top ten for today at Amazon. Those people are going to get more than their money’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/116 "2003-09-16T03:13:58Z")
Here’s the email I sent on Friday to almost everyone I know: Many of you probably have heard that Johnny Cash has died of complications of his diabetes, at a relatively young age of 71. I knew it had to come sometime soon, with his health, but no matter when, it would be too soon. You can read a good summary of his career here: [http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773](http://entertainment.msn.com/news/article.aspx?news=133773) but I will always remember him as the outspoken yet quiet Christian man whom no one could criticize. He had been through the drugs , the lonely times, the very poor childhood, and everyone knew it. He was the only person in pop music who could get away with performing gospel songs without a trace of irony and without anyone acting like he shouldn’t. Constantly aware of the ignored and downtrodden in society, he connected with people in a socially concious way that never got polically muddled and estranged people. No one could deny his concern or his genuine approach to his art and his faith. The review on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) for his album “American 3: Solitary Man” starts off, “The simple truth is that Johnny Cash could read the phone book and make it compelling. At times this set sounds like a deathbed recitation rather than a collection of songs, but the man’s aura and mystique carry the day.” Johnny straddled both country and rock styles, getting elected to both halls of fame, and in the words of Rolling Stone, seemed to embody verything that was good, bad, and contradictory about America. There was never a doubt about his core values, though especially over the last 30+ years of his career. I see that the news of his death has put six of his albums into the top ten for today at Amazon. Those people are going to get more than their money’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/117 "2003-09-16T03:15:15Z")
Ahhhhhhhh!!! I even refreshed the page to make sure, and it wasn’t there!! Crap. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/118 "2003-09-19T12:16:08Z")
I have to mention his appearance on the Simpsons as the coyote “spirit guide” Homer mets on his psychadelic pepper jorney. ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/119 "2003-09-20T02:46:38Z")
Here is a link to his last interview: [Guardian Unlimited - Johnny Cash](http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1044605,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173/120 "2003-09-20T07:15:16Z")
I remember Johnny always starting out his live shows with “Hi, I’m Johnny Cash”, with Folsom Prison Blues to open. I saw Johnny in the late seventies, my brother drug me along. I wasn’t real excited about going. I can truly say today, that was one of the highlights of my concert going days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/johnny-cash-dead/201173.md?page=5)