Burning Ring of Fire

Today, I read on CNN that the Mansion of Johnny and June Cash burnt down. My immediate reaction was sadness, but after reading the article and then pondering the history of the mansion and the people who called it home, my sadness turned into tranquility.

John had purchased the house while it was still under construction from Braxton Dixon who was considered the South's own Frank Lloyd Wright. The Cashs lived in that house from before the were married till their deaths. They didn't house hop till they lived on some sprawling tract of land that would make Louis XIV feel inadequate. They had a house that became their home and that was just that.

My affinity for Johnny Cash and his music is a very recent thing and it really didn't occur till Johnny released a very large body of work just after the death of June Carter. I honestly believe that work, a lot of which were covers of other songs, is probably some of his best work.

He covered such modern stuff as Nine Inch Nails, Hurt in a way that Trent just couldn't do despite the fact that Trent wrote the freakin' song. I remember listening to an interview with Trent on the death of Johnny Cash and he talked about how awestruck he was by the surgical accuracy that John captured the essense of "Hurt". He mentioned how his friends said to him "THAT'S what you meant in that song". John simply had more "mileage" than Trent.

I also watched an interview with Johnny on either Charley Rose or one of his contemporaries and John mentioned how after the death of his beloved June, he told his agent to inundate him with work. Any work, just so he could keep himself going.
The convergence of tragic elements probably created one of the greatest bodies of music that the world has ever heard. Yes, almost all the songs were covers, but they were done by a man who was one of the greatest singer/songwriters this country has ever seen, it was done with millions upon millions of notes under his fingers and it was done with the motivation of all motivations: the loss of not just a loved one, but THE loved one. Mother of his children, owner of his heart and the inspiration behind most of his work.

When you listen to his last work, you can feel that these songs were the last firey, glorious show of the man who was arguably the father of rock and roll and all it's derivatives. Rock, Rock'a'billy, punk, and a thousand other genres. But the songs made you feel every bit of his pain and loss. His voice is cracked and broken by the weight of the decades, but as with all truly good things, the flaws only add to the character and it only gets better.

So, it seems only fitting that the home of the Cash's would go in such a manner. A burning ring of fire.

So, if you read this and even if Johnny Cash wasn't really your taste, take a moment and thank him (and his wife) because chances are that some piece of music you listen to now that makes you happy most likely owes itself to Johnny.