At the beginning of the video in the link below (Johnny Cash - God’s Gonna Cut You Down) a guy says Johnny always wore black because he identified with the poor and the downtrodden. I can’t understand the meaning of the black color here. Why is the black color, not any other color, worn to identify with the poor and the downtrodden?
Johnny Cash - God’s Gonna Cut You Down (Link
Since this is about Johnny Cash specifically, let’s move it to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Apparently Cash first wore black because he thought it looked good on him. Meanwhile, he wanted to tell everyone that he sympathized with downtrodden people. He began saying that wearing black showed one’s sympathy with the downtrodden because it was a convenient way of connecting the two things:
Here’s an additional statement by Cash:
More prosaic explanations are here:
More from Cash’s daughter:
Especially so when contrasted with the flashy dress of other star performers. And being able to tie in your signature style with some other significant thing you are trying to say is effective messaging.
Like how the black SS uniforms showed their sympathy for the poor and downtrodden of Germany.
Yeah, but how many hits did they have on the C&W charts?
The “connection between wearing black and identifying with the poor and the downtrodden” is Johnny Cash. It’s not a connection that appears to have much traction in the rest of the world.
This put an image of a “Nazi Hootenanny” into my head and made me chuckle.
That’s not true - black has been the preferred color of various anarchist movements for over a century, from their flags to their clothing. Now, you may argue as to how much anarchists actually care about the poor and downtrodden, but the connection is a longstanding one.
Did Johnny Cash really do some research and find that anarchists liked to wear black? Is there really any evidence that he remotely considered himself an anarchist? Isn’t it more likely that he knew nothing about anarchists?
Probably not. In post 4 it states,
"Apparently Cash first wore black because he thought it looked good on him. Meanwhile, he wanted to tell everyone that he sympathized with downtrodden people. He began saying that wearing black showed one’s sympathy with the downtrodden because it was a convenient way of connecting the two things:
None, but you know the story; it’s all political.
Yeah, I know what it says in post #4. I wrote post #4. Those were rhetorical questions.
Even if they do, they’re wearing black because there’s a longstanding connection between anarchist movements and wearing black, not because there’s a connection between identifying with the poor and downtrodden and wearing black. I’m fairly certain Johnny Cash’s choice is unrelated and I’d like to see at least a single instance of someone saying they’re wearing black because of the anarchist support for the poor and downtrodden before I accept the point as relevant.
I dunno. Is this thread exclusively about Johnny Cash, or about people wearing black in general?
The anarchist black flag represents the absence of a flag, a rejection of government in general. It has more to do with anti-authoritarianism than support for the poor.
You could make a better case for some religious orders that wear black, but not all religious orders that particularly are devoted to the poor or poverty wear black, and not all religious orders that wear black are devoted to the poor.
Why would that be? Cash grew up during the Depression, in rural Arkansas. I imagine his family felt little connection to politicians or owners of the means of production. I don’t mean to say anarchy is the same as communism, only that he probably heard economic and politic systems other than capitalism and representative democracy discussed as a child.
Yes. I think everyone else in this thread is overthinking this issue. In Johnny Cash’s time, country music stars dressed like this:
http://sportsandentertainmentnashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Jimmy-Dickens-portrait.jpg
www.anti.com/media/press/442fd0d3c8a4220b24a6423bd105954f.jpg
So Johnny Cash’s outfits made a sharp contrast with their simplicity. Even if he did not intend it at first, he later intended that to be sign a rejecting ostentatious displays of wealth and corresponding indifference to social injustice.
