Remembering the Man in Black

On February 26, 1932 a great man was born. He wasn't born to wealthy parents or royalty.  He was born J.R. Cash. He was one of Seven children. He worked in cotton fields with his family from the age of 5. His family, like so many others struggled during the Great Depression. His older brother died at age 15 working in a mill. J.R. always felt the guilt of that, an early sign of the compassionate human being he was.

He began writing songs at the age of 12. Shortly after his 18th birthday he enlisted in the Air Force. He became a Morse Code intercept operator. He was the first to pick up the news of Joseph Stalin's death. he was honorably discharged when he was only 22.

He was by no means perfect. His drug and alcohol abuse, among other things, led to his divorce from his first wife. They had 4 daughters. The demons of drug and alcohol abuse would plague him for many years.He never served a prison sentence. But, he did land in jail 7 times on misdemeanor charges. After an attempted suicide where he crawled into a cave under the influence, trying to lose himself and "just die", He claims he felt God's presence and managed to struggle pout of the cave. June Carter and her mother and sister came to stay with him for  a month to help him conquer his addiction. In 1970 Cash ended all drug use for 7 years when his son John Carter Cash was born. He battled with addiction  entering rehab in1983, 1989, and 1992 (when his son would follow him a few months later).

By the early 1970s, he had cemented his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black. In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black", to help explain his dress code.He wore black on behalf of the poor and hungry, on behalf of "the prisoner who has long paid for his crime", and on behalf of those who have been betrayed by age or drugs."And", Cash added, "with the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans', I wore it 'in mournin' for the lives that could have been.'... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off.^" Here is the first performance of that song on the Johnny Cash show:

 Johnny Cash and June Carter cash may be the greatest love story of all time in my opinion. He asked her to marry him onstage in Ontario Canada on February 22nd, 1968. They were married a week later on March 1.She stuck with him, despite his demons. He loved her more than life itself.

 June Carter Cash died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73. June had told Cash to keep working, so he continued to record, completing 60 more songs in the last four months of his life, and even performed a couple of surprise shows. At the July 5, 2003, concert (his last public performance), before singing "Ring of Fire", Cash read a statement about his late wife that he had written shortly before taking the stage:

The spirit of June Carter overshadows me tonight with the love she had for me and the love I have for her. We connect somewhere between here and heaven. She came down for a short visit, I guess, from heaven to visit with me tonight to give me courage and inspiration like she always has.

Johnny Cash died less than four months later. He was broken hearted over the loss of the woman he loved. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Since I was a young boy the voice and lyrics of Johnny Cash have always resonated with me. So, today I wanted to celebrate the life of the Man in Black.