Blog on the Lillypad
Sunday, October 12, 2003
 | CASH: American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around
American IV includes some of the greatest and most original work Cash has done in the four-CD set. Regrettably, it includes a few pieces that I think failed him. You get the whole spectrum here, but the heights that Cash attains make the CD a classic. The two best, in my opinion: "Hurt" and "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." The first, "Hurt," has already been reviewed numerous times. For me, the song/video work because Cash truly communicates to me in them. Listening to "Hurt" is a personal moment you have with Johnny Cash, and you love him for being honest with you, and you respect him. |
Given my antipathy to Cash's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and "Desperado", I thought I wouldn't like "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". One listen proved me wrong. Similar to "Hurt", Cash successfully took a song that listeners have always associated with youth: passionate, steaming love and desire; and he made it a song of lasting love and passion, a song meaningful because an old man sings it. Perhaps his ardent love for June Carter Cash influenced his power in singing it, but the power of the tenderness and passion in his voice make the song almost transcendent.
In terms of being highly original, "The Man Comes Around" starts with Cash doing a remarkably good impersonation of Alexander Scorby reading Scripture. The song is more imagistic than doctrinal, but the concept of impending judgement is clear. For having been drawn from little-understood texts in Revelation, this song forms a coherent image of judgement of sin and forgiveness for the repentant.
Songs with a classic feel include "Give My Love to Rose," " I Hung My Head," and "Sam Hall". The last two of these re-created images of the man who sang at Folsom Prison. In fact, I found "Sam Hall" delightful, and this is the song where Cash sounds most like his youthful self. "Tear Stained Letter" is a vintage Johnny Cash love-gone-wrong song. "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Streets of Laredo" are good western songs, competently done. Tack on "Danny Boy" as a folk song that nods at Irish balladry, and you get a nice packet from ballad and folk on this CD.
The songs that didn't work for me were pop classics: "Desperado", "Bridge Over Troubled Waters", and "In my Life". All of these demand a wider voice range than Johnny Cash has ever possessed. His power is in resonance, not agility in melody lines. He rasps in a few places on them, and rather than showing emotion or wisdom, the strain in his voice just makes his performance suffer. And "In My Life" pulled too hard on the Old Man image, tripping over into sentimentality in the presentation. Finally, Cash sounds great on "Personal Jesus," but I don't like the song. It tries too hard.
The CD ends with "We'll Meet Again". It would be corny except for the fact that he really was preparing to depart this world. If you look at the four-CD collection, you see a lot of thought about the meaning of his life and his preparation for the next. Because of that, this is a sweet ending, with warmth, and I found myself hoping to see the singer in the light of the world to come.
