Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

The Man in Black Column for the week of September 21-27, 2003

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Every time my husband and I hear Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter sing Jackson we have to laugh. Of course my husband laughs harder than I do because he accidentally (at least he claims it was an accident) left me at a gas station in Jackson, MS for six hours. We were tandem driving back from L.A. with me asleep under a big green blanket in the back seat when he stopped for gas. Unbeknownst to him I slipped out to use the restroom. He filled up the car, hopped back in, glanced at the green blanket, and sped off down the road. He didn’t discover I wasn’t there until it was my turn to drive three hours later. Yes, we smile when we hear the song Jackson. I think June and Johnny would like that. June died a few months ago. Johnny Cash nicknamed the Man in Black just died recently, too. The music industry lost quite an icon.

Everyone has favorite Johnny Cash songs. Most people love the legendary songs like Folsom Prison, I Walk the Line, Ring of Fire, and Hey Porter but I gravitate toward some of the lesser known greats like That Dirty Old Egg Suckin’ Dog. You can’t beat lyrics like:

And I love A Boy Named Sue about a guy who leaves his family after naming his son Sue. The boy spends his life holding a grudge and looking for him to get even. After finding him the dad explains why he did it. Life is rough without a dad so he named him Sue to toughen him up. It ends this way:

Johnny Cash knew how to be tough and poor. Born in Arkansas during the Depression he did everything from working cotton fields to selling appliances before he tried his hand at professional singing after a stint in the Air Force. He signed with Sun Records in 1955 along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis. The four of them sang in a Rockabilly style that took the world by storm. Johnny dressed in black originally because he couldn’t afford anything fancy. It just stuck with him and seemed to fit. He’d look out at the audience and in a deep baritone voice say, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”

His fifty-year career garnered all kinds of awards and landed him in the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame (he wrote over 1500 songs), Country Music Hall of Fame, and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. He was not pigeon holed in style of music. In fact he recently recorded “Hurt,” a Nine Inch Nails song about drug addiction which brought him six nominations in various categories at the latest MTV Video Music Awards. He sang it all: rock, folk, country, gospel! Did I say, “Gospel?” You might not know this but Johnny Cash considered being a Christian more important than anything he achieved. He sang songs like There Will Be Peace In The Valley For Me, Amazing Grace, Rock Of Ages, In The Sweet By And By, The Great Speckled Bird, and Daddy Sang Bass.

Perhaps it takes a drug addict with an irrational anger problem to truly appreciate God’s amazing grace. He was addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates, arrested on drug charges, trashed motel rooms, drove recklessly, and even busted the lights out of the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Today fans love a music industry bad boy because he’s bad but people loved Johnny in spite of it. Maybe it was because he was always for the underdog, the prisoner, the down and out. He was down and out too. Career wise he was at the top of his form but his life was a mess. He credits second wife June for helping him clean up his act and leading him to God. In 1967 in a little Baptist church in Henderson, TN he gave his life to God and quit drugs cold turkey. It wasn’t easy but neither was his life. He always felt God had a hand in his life even in the darkest times.

After drinking of what he called “the living waters” (Jesus Christ) he helped with the Billy Graham crusades. In fact the Grahams and Cashes became close friends, sometimes vacationing together. Johnny had even been known to pray and give an altar call or two during his own concerts. Maybe people loved Johnny because he was genuine and never tried to hide his mistakes. In an article entitled Fade to Black from September 9, 2003 issue of People magazine Reverend Courtney Wilson, a friend of 35 years said, “He had his difficulties, he had his struggles. But what impressed me was that he didn’t ever quit.” That’s one of the best summations of being a Christian I’ve ever heard.

I hated to see June and Johnny go but their musical legacy will live on. I hope their Christian legacy will too. And with that I’ll just smile and say, “I’m goin’ to Jackson. Turn-a loose-a my coat, ‘cause I’m goin’ to Jackson. Goodbye, that’s all she wrote.”

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.