Blog on the Lillypad
Saturday, October 11, 2003
 | CASH: American Recordings I
Of the four CDs that Johnny Cash released through American, I believe that the first and the last are the most powerful. His first CD, dated as 1994 on copyright, presents him with his voice still very much intact. I was surprised when I reviewed the publishing history at how many songs Cash had written himself. In terms of the Johnny Cash we all knew and loved for years, "Delia's Gone" (written by Cash) and "Tennessee Stud" are old classics that he sings with a maturity and pared-down musical accompaniment that really brings out his best as a ballad singer. "Tennessee Stud" was sung at the Viper Room, and the interplay from the small, appreciative audience just adds to the flavor. Several of the songs written by Cash have touches of the sacred about them. His references to the atoning work of Christ and the need for redemption are too frequent to miss. Of these songs, his own work, "Redemption," was incredible: sincere, heartfelt, and doctrinally accurate; also beautifully sung. "Why Me Lord" also penetrates the believer's heart with a ringing sincerity. |
In spite of a clear enunciation of belief in Christ, Cash's work doesn't shrink from what is ugly, nor from what is darkly funny. The troubling account in "Delia's Gone" has a nice companion in the bleakness of "The Man Who Couldn't Cry," which is funny only in the grimmest sense. Tenderness and a grand humility resonate in "Like a Soldier" as well as "Beast in Me." The only pieces that really failed to do anything for me were "Let the Train Blow the Whistle," which I thought went on too long without anythng left for the listener, and "Down by the Train," which I just couldn't figure out, theologically, (part of the trouble of being a Fundamentalist listening to Johnny Cash, I suppose.) Additionally, "Thirteen" was really well sung but too grim for me. "Bird on a Wire" was a great showcase for his voice, but I've heard that song lampooned too much to enable me to appreciate it properly.
Yet, all that being said, it's that voice of his, and the sincerity in it that will bring me back again and again (four times so far) to this CD to sit and listen--and re-evaluate. It's entirely possible that what I find lacking in a few of the songs today will grow and develop as I come to appreciate the care that Johnny Cash obviously put into this labor of love. I'd recommend this CD to anybody who really wants to listen to Johnny Cash sing after a lifetime of work, performance, thought, and reflection. For me, the high point was "Redemption," a song I'd never heard before that called forth my emotions, my own Christian experience of needing Christ every moment, and my appreciation of Cash's confession of faith implicit in the song.
