by Steve Turner
Though patriotic and religious, Cash was hardly a conventional conservative. He opposed American involvement in Vietnam, for example, but at the same time, he supported the troops by playing concerts in Saigon in January 1969. Visiting wounded soldiers in the hospital and ducking incoming mortar fire only served to increase his desire for peace. His nephew Roy Cash Jr. joined the navy in 1963 and spent a thirty-year career flying fighter planes off aircraft carriers. He remembers that Cash was always more interested in asking him questions about military life than he was in recounting his show-business tales. "He wasn't particularly for the Vietnam War and I wasn't either. I just felt that it was my duty to serve my country, and he supported us. He gave me tapes and records to give to the folks in my outfit. He even came and did a free concert at the naval college up in Newport, Rhode Island."
At a time when many of his generation were dismissive of the spiritual quests and political protests of the campus rebels, Cash, perhaps mindful of his own excesses and stumbling pilgrimage, liked to listen and understand. He shared many of their concerns for peace, freedom, equality, and human dignity. In a song premiered on the March 18, 1970, show, he took the question asked by Pontius Pilate, "What is truth?" and made it the hook of a song that looked at the failure of his generation to understand the young.
The old man turns off the radio
Says, "Where did all the old songs go?
Kids sure play funny music these days
And they sure do play it in the strangest ways!
It seems like the whole darned world's gone wild.
It was peaceful back when I was a child."
Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries, "What is truth?"
Another song specifically written for one of the shows was "Man in Black." For years he'd been asked why he dressed predominantly in black jackets and trousers (although he actually frequently wore white jackets in the 1950s). He usually gave one of three answers: (a) black stayed the cleanest for the longest time; (b) black was good for wearing in church, and his first concert had been in a church; (c) black was easier to color coordinate. The new song offered the explanation that he wore black in remembrance of all the sadness and injustice in the world. "Are you becoming a political radical?" Cash was asked. "No, I sure don't," said Cash. "I look at it the other way. I'm just trying to be a good Christian."2.
Oh, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
Till things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black.
A third television series was commissioned starting in September, this time lasting for twenty-six shows. While taping Cash always maintained his boundaries. He wasn't concerned about pleasing a particular constituency—liberal or conservative—but wanted to stay true to himself. When he performed Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down," the network wanted him to leave out the reference to being "stoned." Someone suggested that instead of singing the line "wishing, Lord, that I was stoned" he could sing "wishing, Lord, that I was home." "John didn't let me know what he was going to do with it," says Kristofferson. "When he sang it that night he looked right up at me in the balcony and sang 'wishing, Lord, that I was stoned' and, to me that saved the song. I don't think it ever would have been that big if it had not had that word in it. He fought to preserve the integrity of the song. And he won."
On another occasion Cash dared to offend the liberals by making an explicit declaration of his Christian faith. He had always included gospel songs on his shows but had not yet revealed the precise details of his religious commitment. The fact that he loved gospel made him little different than Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, or Elvis—performers from the South who grew up loving gospel songs and hymns. He knew from the fan mail that came into the show that a lot of people wanted to know whether the gospel songs had a deeper meaning for him.
Cash prepared a statement that he wanted to include in the show that aired on November 18,1970, but Jacobson warned him against using it on the grounds that it would alienate a section of the public who didn't share his views. It wasn't a simple statement of his faith, something that would fit comfortably into the show-business format, but a short polemic that seemed out of character with the easygoing mood they'd established over the past eighteen months. He said,
All my life I have believed that there are two powerful forces: the force of good, and the force of evil; the force of right and the force of wrong; or, if you will, the force of God, and the force of the devil. Well now, the force of God is naturally the Number One most powerful force, although the Number Two most powerful force, the devil, takes over every once in a while. And he can make it pretty rough on you when he tries to take over. I know. In my time I fought him, I fought back, I clawed, I kicked him. When I didn't have the strength to kick him, I gnawed him. Well, here lately I think we've made the devil pretty mad because on our show we've been mentioning God's name. We've been talking about Jesus, Moses, Elijah the prophet, even Paul and Silas and John the Baptist. Well, this probably made the devil pretty mad alright, and he may be coming after me again, but I'll be ready for him. In the meantime, while he's coming, I'd like to get in one more lick for Number One.
He then sang "I Saw a Man," by Arthur Smith.
Jacobson approached him afterward and suggested cutting it, but Johnny told him, "If you cut that out I'll never talk to you again. That's how I feel." It aired, but Jacobson believes that it had a catastrophic effect on the third season. "It was a seminal moment," he says. "John said something that he shouldn't have said. I left it in and our ratings began to dip. When the ratings started to dip, the powers that be in L.A. began to panic. They were saying, 'We gotta do something!' They started putting the pressure on me and on John. I tried to deflect it as best as I could, but I think by then he'd had enough."
The program was now running out of steam. The "Ride This Train" sections merely reworked past ideas, studio executives determined the guests, and old staples like "Big River," "I Walk the Line," and "Folsom Prison Blues" took up more of the playlist. Then, in a last-ditch effort to spice up the format, they introduced theme programs: comedy, youth, the Wild West, country music, circuses. A gospel-themed show even featured Billy Graham in a "duet" with Cash in the specially written song "The Preacher Said," in which the evangelist recited passages of Scripture. Though the Johnny Cash Show rated seventeen in the 1969-70 Nielsen Ratings, it didn't break the top twenty for the 1970-71 season.
In May 1971, while the third season still aired in the States, Cash flew to Australia for a tour. On arrival he was greeted by reporters asking him why the Johnny Cash Show had been cancelled. Apparently, in his absence, a decision had been reached in L. A. to pull the plug after fifty-eight shows spread over almost two years. Although totally shocked because he had agreed to film another season, he was nevertheless relieved that the decision to quit had been made for him. Cash had felt increasingly restless and was eager to embark on projects that had "more meaning" for him.
"It was all right for the first year," he said. "But I soon came to realize that to the networks I was just another piece of merchandise, a cog in the wheel, and when the wheel starts squeaking and wobbling they'd replace me with another cog." He told Robert Elfstrom that he felt that every part of his personal and family life had been exploited. "Television steals your soul," he said.
In December 1969 Billy Graham contacted him, and Cash invited Graham and his wife, Ruth, to Hendersonville for a meal. It was the start of one of the deepest and most valuable relationships of his life. On the surface they seemed an unlikely couple—Graham, the untainted and conservatively styled evangelist, and Cash,
SCHOOL DAYS 1946-47
Dyess High
Courtesy of Kathy Tittle
Johnny Cash, age 15
Courtesy of House
of Cash
Cash's passport photo, early 1960s
Courtesy of House of Cash
Written by a young J.R Cash on April 26,1944
Courts of kathy Tittle
Johnny Cash in Germany, 1952
Courtesy of House of Cash
Copyright © Nadine Kennedy
Johnny Cash in uniform in Texas
Courtesy of Lou Freeman
Courtesy of Bob Moodie
Photos of Johnny Cash in Landsberg, Germany, early 1950s
Courtesy of House of Cash
Written in the early 1950s while stationed in Landsberg, Germany
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Johnny and June, 1960s
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Johnny Cash backstage, 1955,
in a jacket made by his mother
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
1950s press photo of June Carter
JOHNNY CA
& JUNE CARTER
MANAGEMENT.- SAUL HOLIFF
509 JARVIS STREET, LONDON. ONTARIO
TEL. 471-5519 (519)
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Press photograph
Courtesy of Kathy Tittle
Johnny Cash with daughter Kathy and her
husband Jimmy Tittle on their wedding day.
Cash performed the ceremony.
Copyright © Ron Kathy
Rosanne Cash and family
(Standing, from left: Chelsea, Caitlin
Carrie, and Hannah. Husband John'
Leventhal, and son Jake)
Courtesy of kathy Tittle
Johnny Cash with his first wife, Vivian
Liberto and daughters (L to R) Rosanne,
Kathy, and Cindy in the early 1960s.
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Cash home in Dyess, Arkansas in 1968,
years after the family moved away
Courtesy of Cathy Tittle
Tara Cash Schwoebel with her husband, fred,
and sons Aran and Alex
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Johnny Cash, John Carter Cash, Ezra Carter
Courtesy of House of Cash
Cash with daughter Tara
Copyright © Judy Mock
Johnny and June backstage after a
show in Trenton, New Jersey, 1963
Copyright © Laura Cash
Great-grandson Brennan Coggins
and grandson Joseph Cash
Rosanne and Johnny
Courtesy of Kathy Tittle
John, June, and Kacy
Tittle (Kathy's daughter),
at Bon Aqua
Courtesy of House of Cash
Carlene Carter and June Carter Cash
Courtesy of June Carter Cash
Johnny Cash and John Carter Cash
on the set of Hee Haw
Courtesy of House of Cash
Johnny Cash performs on stage with Marshall Grant
and Luther Perkins in February 1959.
Courtesy of House of Cash
Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley, 1955
Courtesy of June Carter Cash
Johnny Cash backstage at the Odeon, London
May 15, 1966
Courtesy of House of Cash
June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash at their wedding, March 1, 1968
JOHNNY CASH
Johnny Cash outside Folsom Prison, January 1968. The recording was for Columbia Records, but the photo was picked up by Sun Records to promote their back catalog.
Copyright © Bill Thorup
Johnny Cash and a young Marty Stuart
Copyright © Judy Mock
June Carter Cash and Robert Duvall
Courtesy of House of Cash
George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Cash and June
at Cash Home in Hendersonville, tennessee
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Cash dining at his home with U2 members Bono
(right) and Adam Clayton, and friends Doug
Caldwell and Jack Clement in 1990.
Courtesy of Colin Escott
Cash with Johnny Horton, December 1959
Courtesy of Colin Escotth
Luther Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Marshall Grant
at Sun Studios in Memphis. 1956.
Copyright © Marty Stuart
"Cowboy" Jack Clement and Johnny Cash
Courtesy of John Carter Cash
Roy Orbison, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash
Jerry Lee Lewis,and Perkins
Copyright © Judy Mock
Roy Acuff, June Carter Cash,
and Johnny Cash backstage in 1987
Courtesy of House of Cash
Jonney Cash, Jane Catter Cash,
and Rosey Nix meet a young Prince ^nar
Courtesy of House of Cash
Cash with the Muppets, August 1980
Copyright © Marty Stuart
Cash and Waldo, the ostrich
that attacked him in September 1981
(AP Photo/ Gene Beley)
Johnny Cash and June Carter hug each other in this late 1960s photo.
—but they shared backgrounds as Southern Baptist farm boys, high-profile lives, and a love of the Bible.
Cash admired Graham's resoluteness and quiet confidence in God. Graham had met and advised some of the most powerful people in the world, and yet the most striking thing about him was his humility and his integrity. Graham, in turn, was intrigued by Cash's ability to be candid about his faith and yet find acceptance with sections of society that were traditionally cynical about Christianity.
Graham encouraged Cash to write more songs addressing the questions posed by the Woodstock generation. He also invited Cash to make a guest appearance along with the Carter Family and the Statler Brothers at a youth revival on May 24, 1970, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Posters advertising the event used psychedelic graphics, and Graham preached on what he called "the Jesus revolution." Cash spoke of his drug abuse that in fact had only ended a mere two months beforehand when his first son, John Carter Cash, was born. "It ain't worth it," he told the stadium crowd. "I'd like the young people to take it from a man who's been there and knows what he's talking about." Later he referred to the appearance with Billy Graham as "the pinnacle of my career."
9
Personal Jesus
THE END OF THE JOHNNY CASH SHOW marked the beginning of the most intensely evangelical period of Cash's life. His previous acts of spiritual rededication often appeared more motivated by a need to survive than an unselfish desire to serve God. When his life was falling apart it seemed that, as a last resort, he would turn to the teachings of Christ in the hope that he could be restored. Yet, when his situation improved, he gradually forgot his commitments to Christ and would soon find himself back where he started.
In the spring of 1971 Cash was nowhere near the end of his tether. His ratings had dropped during the final season of his television show, but he was still a huge international star, gaining celebrity status akin to John Wayne or Muhammad Ali. The previous year his movie career had been revived when he'd starred with Kirk Douglas in A Gunfight, his first screen role in almost a decade. His marriage to June made him happy, and the birth of his longed-for son reinvigorated him. Earning a reputed three million a year, he lived in a custom-built, luxurious home surrounded by one hundred and forty-six acres of land and had purchased a home nearby for his parents.
Apparently now able to offer forgiveness, Cash treated his father with loving care, visiting him daily when he was off the road and always remembered to dedicate songs to him in concert. "I've heard it said that he mistreated his children, and have read what Dad said in his book, but I never heard my father say one negative word about my grandfather," says Tara. "I never saw him treat him with anything other than complete, devout respect. I think that he had a lot of struggles and showed a lot of anger before Jack died, but my father always said that after that he turned his life around and was a changed man."
CASH'S COMMITMENT TO CHURCH had always waxed and waned. Often when he was on the road, he would creep into the back of a church on a Sunday morning, and when he was home in Tennessee he'd visit different churches in Henderson-ville and Madison hoping to find somewhere that he felt comfortable. As someone with such a recognizable profile, he faced an added challenge. If word got out that he attended a particular church, songwriters and unsigned singers would interrupt his worship to hand him demo tapes.
As an adult he had always felt slightly uncomfortable with collective worship. By nature he enjoyed solitary activities—shooting, fishing, walking, reading, writing, climbing, observing—and he preferred equally solitary methods of worship. He enjoyed praying and meditating alone or reading the Bible and works of theology at home in his book-lined study, off the master bedroom. His great theological sparring partner was June's dad, Ezra "Eck" Carter, who similarly enjoyed studying the Bible alone and rarely went to church. As Cash once said, "I find my church in my heart, 'cause sometimes I just can't drag my body into one."
Cash had known Jimmy Snow since the mid-1950s when he was a performer on the same circuit as Elvis. The son of Hank Snow, Jimmy ended up with a recording deal with RCA, but his career derailed when his addiction to alcohol and amphetamines dropped his weight from 150 pounds to 117 pounds. In 1958, at the age of twenty-two, he underwent a Christian conversion, abandoned his show-business career, and became a full-time preacher for the Assembly of God. CBS filmed him preaching a fire-and-brimstone sermon against the evils of rock-'n'-roll and the clip is still used in documentaries to illustrate the Christian reaction to what many at the time considered to be "the devil's music."
