Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (1969) - full transcript
Footage of Johnny Cash at home and on the road.
APPLAUSE.
MUSIC: Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash
♪ Love is a burning thing
♪ And it makes a fiery ring
♪ Bound by wild desire
♪ I fell into a ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ The taste of love is sweet
♪ When hearts like ours meet
♪ I fell for you like a child
♪ Oh, but the fire went wild
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire. ♪
HE MIMICS BIRD CALL.
GUNSHOT.
HE LAUGHS.
You want to get me,
don't you? You son of a gun!
Only place I can tell
he is hurt is... He's got one little
wing bone broken. It's not hurt.
It's not every day you catch a crow.
CROW SQUAWKS.
You son of a gun, you!
I already like you, for some reason.
I'll take you home and see if you
are hurt bad, OK?
HE HUMS TO HIMSELF
♪ If I had wings
like a grey goose got
♪ I'd leave you
whether my heart break or not
♪ I'd leave you
Woman, I'd leave you
♪ I can't make my feet walk... ♪
HE HUMS
♪ But if I could fly like Mr Crow
♪ Woman, I know I'd go. ♪
Ah!
One, two, three, four...
MUSIC STARTS.
I would leave them
completely off the intro.
And I would wait
until I am into the song, you know?
Have you got a little pencil?
I would keep that flat top guitar
way up on the intro
because that is powerful.
The way... with the drum slap.
Don't you think, Bob? Yes.
I just...
Because when they come in,
I can hear it, it's kind of a
pleasant surprise, you know? Yes.
I filled it up so you can have what
you wanted to choose from.
OK, cut all intro.
As we go along, Johnny, tell me
where you want them in or out
and I'll write it down, OK?
One, two, three...
MUSIC: Land Of Israel
by Johnny Cash
♪ From the top of Sinai
♪ To the Sea of Galilee... ♪
CREW CHATTERS
♪ Every hill and plain is home
♪ Every place is dear to me
♪ There the breezes tell the stories
♪ Oh, what stories they do tell
♪ Of the mighty things that happened
♪ In the land of Israel
♪ Here, where Moses and the prophets
♪ Spoke of one who would be king
♪ Of a heavenly messiah
♪ And the blessings he would bring
♪ Oh, to hear again the call
♪ All is peaceful, all is well
♪ Upon every rock and mountain
♪ In the land of Israel. ♪
Where my daddy was born. Yeah.
Kings land, that's where I was born.
Oh, great.
Well, do we go right past
on this...? No, we turn.
We turned south here,
on 81, to Monticello.
We're not very far off,
then, are we now? No.
We're almost there.
When you come from
either side of that river,
and that's part of the country,
you learn to understand most
everything, you have to,
cos it's a grind from the time
you get up till you lay down.
And there ain't nothing
given to you. You sweat.
Somebody in the family sweats for
that bread that's on that plate.
Right, John? Yes.
And it's usually the whole family
it takes to make a living,
whether it's cotton... and, er, the
people that's farming the land
is not the one that gets the money.
Somebody owns it
and you get part of it.
MUSIC: Daddy Sang Bass
by Johnny Cash
♪ I remember when I was a lad
Times were hard and things were bad
♪ But there's a silver linin'
behind every cloud
♪ Just poor people
That's all we were
♪ Tryin' to make a livin'
out of black land earth
♪ We'd get together
in a family circle singin' loud
♪ Daddy sang bass
Mama sang tenor
♪ Me and little brother
would join right in there
♪ Cos singin' seems
to help a troubled soul
♪ One of these days
and it won't be long
♪ I'll rejoin them in a song
♪ I'm gonna join the family circle
at the throne
♪ No, the circle won't be broken
♪ By and by, Lord, by and by
♪ Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
♪ Me and little brother
will join right in there
♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky
♪ I remember after work
Mama would call in all of us
♪ You could hear us singin'
for a country mile
♪ Now little brother has done gone on
♪ But I'll rejoin him in a song
♪ We'll be together again up yonder
in a little while
♪ Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
♪ Me and little brother
would join right in there
♪ Cos singin' seems to help
a troubled soul
♪ One of these days
and it won't be long... ♪
CHEERING.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
BAND BEGINS, HUGE CHEER
♪ I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling round the bend
♪ And I ain't seen the sunshine
since I don't know when
♪ I'm stuck in Folsom Prison
♪ And time keeps draggin' on
♪ But that train keeps a-rollin'
on down to San Antone
♪ When I was just a baby
my mama told me, son
♪ Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with guns
♪ But I shot a man in Reno
just to watch him die
♪ When I hear that whistle blowing
♪ I hang my head and cry... ♪
Hey, come on!
GUITAR SOLO, CHEERING.
Ye-e-eah!
♪ I bet there's rich folks
eating in a fancy dining car
♪ They're probably drinking coffee
and smoking big cigars
♪ Well, I know I had it coming
♪ I know I can't be free
♪ But those people keep a-moving
♪ And that's what tortures me... ♪
Go for it! Yeah.
GUITAR SOLO.
CHEERING
♪ Well, if they freed me
from this prison
♪ If that railroad train was mine
♪ I bet I'd move it on
a little farther down the line
♪ Far from Folsom Prison
That's where I want to stay
♪ And I'd let that lonesome whistle
blow my blues away. ♪
MUSIC STOPS.
Do you think it's a main theme going
through country and western music?
A main message or a type of thing
you're trying to appeal to
in the country and western songs
that you do? Um...
Well, the things of country music
are much the same in other music.
There's love, and love is the main
theme of all music, of course.
Um...
There's much more sadness
in country music.
Um, I don't know what the real
reason is, maybe because, er
I don't know, because of the fact
that it is from the grassroots
and of the simple way of life.
MAN: Look up there.
There's some good-looking apples.
The best apples are still up
in the tree, way up in the top.
But I couldn't shake them down
without that.
CHILD: I... I don't want...
LEAVES RUSTLE.
Too many apples.
Johnny, that will kick you,
you better watch it.
Daddy, did you...? Watch it, she
will kick if you hit her back there.
Rosanne, watch it!
Watch it, Rosanne.
Walk behind her, honey,
she might kick.
I'm sorry, he was just fixing
to hit her back there,
and that would have been
all it would have taken!
There.
MAN LAUGHS: You go in behind!
Get over here, girl!
LAUGHTER CONTINUES.
Oh, John, please, that's cruelty!
CHILDREN LAUGH.
Go, Jenny!
CHILDREN CHATTER
Come here, come here, come here.
I'm shivering. I am too, I am cold.
I'm cold, I cannot continue.
I wish she would bray.
She brays just like her daddy.
MAN BRAYS.
Like Gordon used to do, you know.
Mm-hm.
The first year that we was at Dyess,
let's see, how old were you?
Oh, four years old. Four years old?
I went the runs at the river one
evening... Now, this is true...
Come on in.
SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY CHILDREN
come on in here.
JOHNNY: Come here!
CHILDREN CHATTER.
Waiting for them to just
come by... You have to!
I really don't have to sing
that song again, do I?
- LAUGHTER
- Yeah, I forgot that song...
♪ On Monday, we have bread and gravy
♪ On Tuesday, it's gravy and bread
♪ On Wednesday and Thursday
it's gravy and toast
♪ But that's only
gravy and bread... ♪
LAUGHTER
♪ On Friday, we said to the landlord
♪ Landlord?
Oh, please give us something instead
♪ So on Saturday morning
by way of a change
♪ We had gravy
without any bread... ♪
LAUGHTER.
Good for you!
JOHNNY APPLAUDS: Yey!
OK, girls, sing.
Daddy, you want to sing us a song?
Johnny, I ain't no singer.
There's one thing...
You would sing it in the bathtub.
And his name was Slicker?
What was that song? No.
Sing all them World War I songs.
No, I don't think I could do it.
About where you walked up to the fire
alarm box and it was in New York.
Sing that one. Oh, that...
Let me hear it.
Grab that propeller?
♪ I'd writ some letters on the train
that I wanted to mail back home
♪ And I'd tell 'em about the things
I'd seen and just how far I'd come
♪ I'd seen a box all painted red
and I dropped the letters in
♪ Fire engines came from all around
and the bells began to ring... ♪
WOMAN LAUGHS
♪ And oh, my, what they did to me
♪ Squirted water all over me!
I grabbed up a man and I said to him
♪ Haul me out, I don't want to drown
♪ He said, you're just a darned old
root from a high grass town... ♪
I don't remember all of it, sorry.
I ain't going to sing no more.
LAUGHTER.
Tom Ford used to sing that.
He learned that to me
when I was a little boy.
I was a little boy,
about four years old,
when the Mississippi River
broke the levee.
Floodwaters come over
the cotton land,
come up to the doorstep
at the front of the house.
One morning, I was laying in the bed
and I heard my mama hollering
to my daddy, she said...
♪ How high's the water, Daddy? ♪
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
♪ Two feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
Two feet high and risin'
♪ We can make it to the road
in a home-made boat
♪ That's the only thing
we got left that'll float
♪ It's already over
all the wheat and the oats
♪ Two feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Three feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
three feet high and risin'
♪ Well, my hives are gone
I lost my bees
♪ The chickens are sleepin'
in the willow trees
♪ Cow's in water up past her knees
♪ Three feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Four feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
four feet high and risin'
♪ Hey, come look through
the window pane
♪ The bus is comin'
Gonna take us to the train
♪ Looks like we'll be blessed
with a little more rain
♪ Four feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Five feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
five feet high and risin'
♪ The rails are washed out
north of town
♪ We gotta head for higher ground
♪ We can't come back
till the water goes down
♪ Five feet high and risin'
♪ Five feet high and risin'. ♪
APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
You were wonderful!
Thank you, nice to be with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, how you doing?
OK?
CAMERA CLICKS.
Thank you. Thank you.
SOFT CHATTER.
Thank you. Thank you, girls.
WOMAN SPEAKS SOFTLY.
Thank you, how sweet.
When I thinks about the best
we could say about Johnny...
Why, that's very nice.
..I even got a tune to it.
Let's hear it. Let's hear it.
♪ Under lightning, rain or sleet
Johnny Cash just can't be beat
♪ This ain't no lyin'
It ain't no bluff
♪ When Johnny sings
He does his stuff... ♪
LAUGHTER.
APPLAUSE.
Aw, that's cute! That's very nice.
She wants you to play something
first. What? Great Speckled Bird.
I mean, that's asking a favour...
They will want me out of here.
Just... All right, open the door.
GUITAR PLAYING BEGINS.
Come in, honey, come in.
That's part of it.
We got your records...
♪ What a beautiful thought
I am thinking
♪ Concerning the great speckled bird
♪ And to know
that my name is recorded
♪ On the pages of God's holy word
♪ Desiring...
♪ To lower her standards
♪ I watch every move that she makes
♪ They long to find fault
with her teaching
♪ But really she makes no mistakes
♪ And when he cometh
descending from heaven
♪ On a cloud
like he wrote in his word
♪ I'll be joyfully carried
to meet him
♪ On the wings
of the great speckled bird. ♪
What do you think that means?
The great speckled bird is,
er, a symbol of the Church.
That's what it means.
You were talking about songs
being a part of me.
Now, we've bought some property
up near Smithville.
It's woods and there's a trout
stream running to the cliffs
and we were up there not long ago,
June, the girls and I,
and I sat down on a rock
and started writing a thing that
I don't know if it would be...
It might possibly be recorded
commercially, I don't know,
it's called, um...
Well, what, it's called, er...
What I Need Is You.
All I Need Is You, I believe, yeah.
You're All I Need.
HE BEGINS PLAYING
♪ Beside a singin' mountain stream
♪ Where the pussy willow grew
♪ Where the silver leaf of maple
♪ Sparkled in the morning dew
♪ I braided twigs of willow
♪ Made a string of buckeye beads
♪ But flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ Flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ I leaned against the bark of birch
♪ And I smelled the honey dew
♪ I watched a flock of geese
♪ Against the sky of baby blue
♪ I walked among the lily pads
♪ Carved a whistle from a reed
♪ Mother Nature's quite a lady
♪ But you are what I need
♪ Mother Nature's quite a lady
♪ But you are what I need. ♪
I think that's pretty.
And there's another verse, of course,
I always forget the last verse.
SHE LAUGHS.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF
John always writes these songs down.
♪ A mockingbird sang in the trees
♪ And I thanked him for the song
♪ Then the sun
went slowly to the west
♪ And I had to move along
♪ I walked... I walked through
♪ I walked beside the wild oats
♪ Where the roebuck...
Where the deer and the roebuck feed
♪ But flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ Flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need. ♪
That's another little thing
I wrote just
in one of my alone moods.
I didn't mind the hard work
on the farm all that much.
It's something
that we had to do and so,
we accepted it that hard work
was part of our life.
I'm sure that, if you've ever
lived on a cotton patch
or any part of the country
where times are hard,
that you appreciate the good things
when they do come much more.
John and I talked many times
about the old saying
and that line that says,
"Steel is strong because it knew
the hammer and white heat."
HE LAUGHS
I'm, er, I've learned, um,
to adapt very well to prosperity,
I like it.
From the home
of the world-renowned Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee,
the Kraft Music Hall presents...
The Second Annual
Country Music Awards!
APPLAUSE, FANFARE PLAYS.
With guest stars
Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins,
Pat Boone, Bobby Goldsboro,
Roger Miller, Jeannie C Riley,
Tex Ritter, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash!
The next award is for the
Country Music Album Of The Year.
The albums nominated are...
Best Of Merle Haggard.
Performer - Merle Haggard.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Performer - Tammy Wynette.
Gentle On My Mind.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
And Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
Performer - Johnny Cash.
The winner is...
The Album Of The Year -
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
CHEERING, FANFARE PLAYS.
Thank you.
I would like to say, first of all,
thanks to the people
that helped support me
to make this possible, to.
Luther Perkins especially.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE.
Mr Davies, how are you doing?
Hello there. How are you doing?
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing? What's your name?
Don Freed. Nice to meet you, Don.
Nice to meet you too.
Are you the fella that came down from
Canada? That's right. Saskatoon.
..Going merrily downhill, sort of.
He had such high ideals,
I kind of hated to stand by
and watch him.
♪ Come away from the roadside
♪ Your feat, it is done
♪ The battle is over
♪ You have both lost and won
♪ For the drums, they're but an echo
♪ Your trumpet players die
♪ Come away, come away
♪ And know how hard you tried
♪ The king, he holds the aces
♪ He has not held your hand
♪ The queen, with her embraces
♪ You did not understand
♪ And the seeds that have fallen
♪ Along the weary hobo's trail
♪ And just as they have fallen
♪ Don't let yourself be felled... ♪
HE PLAYS HARMONICA.
Good. Very good writing. Would you
like to hear another? Mm-hm.
All right. I'll sit down. Sure.
That's a beautiful tune.
A very pretty tune.
I'd like to get you an audition
with Columbia Records.
I don't want you to do it
just as a favour.
If you don't think I'm good
enough... I wouldn't do it
just as a favour. If I didn't think
you were good enough,
I wouldn't do it at all.
But I think you've got it,
so I'll be happy to try
to set you up an audition.
I want to hear another.
I'll see if I can find that guy.
HE LAUGHS
♪ Look a-yonder comin'
♪ Comin' down that railroad track
♪ Hey, look a-yonder comin'
♪ Comin' down that railroad track
♪ It's that Orange Blossom Special
♪ Bringin' my baby back... ♪
HE CHUCKLES
♪ Well, I'm going down to Florida
♪ And get some sand in my shoes
♪ Or maybe Californy
♪ And get some sand in my shoes
♪ I'll ride that
Orange Blossom Special
♪ And lose these New York blues... ♪
CROWD CHEERS.
"Say, man,
when you going back to Florida?"
"I don't know, I don't reckon
I'll ever go back to Florida."
"Ain't you worried about getting
your nourishment in New York?"
"Well, I don't care
if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do."
♪ ..Hey, talk about a-ramblin'
♪ She's the fastest train on the line
♪ Talk about a-travellin'
♪ She's the fastest train on the line
♪ It's that Orange Blossom Special
♪ Rollin' down the seaboard line... ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
COUGHING.
You want me to get in closer on it?
You want me to get in closer?
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barking
♪ And the day is getting dark
♪ As the night begins to fall
♪ Then the dogs will lose their bark
♪ And the silent night will shatter
♪ From the sounds inside my mind
♪ And I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ From the crossroads of my doorstep
♪ My eyes, they begin to fade
♪ And I turn my head back
to the room
♪ Where my love and I have laid
♪ And I gaze back to the street
♪ The sidewalk and the sign
♪ And I'm one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Yea-eah
♪ Well, it's a restless, hungry
feeling
♪ It don't do nobody no good
♪ And everything I'm saying
♪ You can say it just as good
♪ Cos you're right from your side
♪ That I'm right from mine
♪ I know it
♪ We're just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Dead right
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barking
♪ And the day is getting dark
♪ As the night comes in a-falling
♪ The dogs will lose their bark
♪ And the silent night will shatter
♪ From the sounds inside my mind
♪ Dead right
BOTH: ♪ As I'm one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand
♪ And a thousand And a thousand
♪ Another thousand
Miles and miles
♪ Yeah, a thousand miles
A thousand miles behind
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind... ♪
I've got very little
Indian blood in me, myself,
except in my heart.
I've got 100% for you tonight.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
♪ Gather round me, people
♪ There's a story I would tell
♪ About a brave young Indian
♪ That we should remember well
♪ From the tribe of the Pima Indian
♪ A proud and peaceful band
♪ Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
in Arizona land
♪ Down the ditches
for a thousand years
♪ The water grew Ira's people's crops
♪ Till the white man stole
the water rights
♪ And the sparklin' water stopped
♪ Now Ira's folks were hungry
♪ And their land grew crops of weeds
♪ But when war came, Ira volunteered
♪ And forgot the white man's greed
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ There they battled
up Iwo Jima's hill
♪ Two hundred and fifty men
♪ But only twenty seven lived
to fight back down again
♪ And when that fight was over
♪ And when Old Glory raised
♪ Among the men who held it high
♪ Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ Ira Hayes returned a hero
♪ Celebrated through the land
♪ He was wined and speeched
and honoured
♪ Everybody shook his hand
♪ But he was just a Pima Indian
♪ No water, no crops, no chance
♪ At home nobody cared
what Ira'd done
♪ And when did the Indians dance?
♪ And then Ira started drinking hard
♪ Jail was often his home
♪ There they'd let him
raise the flag and lower it
♪ Like you'd throw a dog a bone
♪ He died drunk early one morning
♪ Alone in the land he fought to save
♪ Two inches of water
in a lonely ditch
♪ Was a grave for Ira Hayes
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ But his land is just as dry
♪ And his ghost is lying thirsty
♪ In the ditch where Ira died. ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
WHISTLING.
Thank you.
♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh
♪ Sometimes it causes me to tremble
♪ Tremble, tremble, tremble
♪ Tremble
♪ Were you there
when they laid him in the tomb?
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
♪ Ooh...
♪ Ooh-ooh
♪ Sometimes it causes me to tremble
♪ Tremble, tremble, tremble
♪ Tremble
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away? ♪
APPLAUSE.
They call it sharecropping.
And these are sharecropper houses,
bungalows, here.
Most of them are what they call
"shotgun shacks".
There's three rooms in a row.
A front room, a middle room
and a back room.
Each one of these houses
had a barn,
a chicken house,
a smokehouse, where the farmers...
They raised their own hogs
and cured their meat.
And they had a mule
and 20 acres of land here.
The next house, just up the road,
the line, the property line,
was halfway between the two houses.
They all had 20 acres of land
to begin with in 1935.
And this is one of those...
You called it a canal,
it's a drainage ditch.
This is ditch 40. Oh, wow.
Are these the banks...?
These are some of the banks that...
that my daddy and all of them
were cleaning off when I was
a water boy on the river gang.
I'd just soon wait over there.
The bus is heavy.
The only original building
in the circle
is the administration building.
There's the Dyess Theater where
I saw all the Tex Ritter movies,
Sunset Carson, Gene Autry movies.
There was a bank, a theatre,
there was a big co-op store
over there.
There was a nice restaurant there.
It was a beautiful little place.
Was it...?
The library's on down here,
isn't it? Mm-hm.
There it is. Frank Huff,
that I was telling you about,
right there he is.
Really? Mm-hm.
There is Frank Huff.
Hello, Mr Huff!
INDISTINCT REPLY
I got to get out to talk to him for a
minute. Just a minute, I'll get out.
Hi. Get out, get out!
I will.
Shall I turn it off, John, or...
You still live out here on the road?
No, I live here.
Oh, you do?
Is Jay still up north?
Yes, he is still up there.
Hi, how are you doing?
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Long time. Sure...
Is it locked? Yeah.
John, is that the same...?
Was that there, back years ago?
No, I don't think...
These concrete blocks were.
Sure looks smaller, doesn't it?
Yes, it's just amazing
how small all the rooms look.
Here's something
that broke me up, Louise.
On the floor there,
the holes where Mama's stove
wore holes in the floor.
We moved in this house
in the winter of 1935.
There were five cans of paint
sitting there on the floor.
It's all there was, remember?
Every one of us sat down in
the middle of the floor and cried.
First new house we'd ever owned.
This is where I'd sit
and listen to the radio.
I thought of that very thing.
Remember at night, Daddy'd say,
"Turn it down, John!"
He'd sit there with his ear
glued to that radio...
Did he think
if he turned it down...?
Yeah.
♪ My bills are all due
and the babies need shoes
♪ But I'm busted
♪ Cotton's gone down
to a quarter a pound
♪ And I'm busted
♪ I got a cow that went dry
♪ And a hen that won't lay
♪ A big stack of bills
♪ That get bigger each day
♪ The county will haul
my belongings away
♪ I'm busted
♪ I called on my brother
to ask for a loan
♪ I was busted
♪ I hate to beg like a dog for a bone
♪ But I'm busted
♪ My brother said
there ain't a thing I can do
♪ My wife and my kids
are all down with the flu
♪ And I was just thinking
of calling on you
♪ I'm busted. ♪
♪ I walked in the big yard
to feel the warm sunshine
♪ A ninety-nine-year man
stepped over to me
♪ He offered a smoke
and he said as I rolled it
♪ Tomorrow I'm going to break out
and go free
♪ They watch us by sunlight
♪ They watch us by spotlight
♪ But I know a way
for a man to go free
♪ Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
♪ The walls of a prison
will never hold me
♪ Next morning at breakfast
the old man was missing
♪ Then we all heard the rifles
high up on the wall
♪ He'd gone through the tunnel
just like he had promised
♪ And they said he was crying
when they saw him fall
♪ They watch us by sunlight
♪ They watch us by spotlight
♪ But I know a way
for a man to go free
♪ Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
♪ The walls of a prison
will never hold me... ♪
INDISTINCT CHATTER.
I was hoping it'd be bad.
You know,
it's not like Folsom Prison,
but it gives you the same feeling,
doesn't it?
A prison's a prison.
That's all it is.
Go around,
back through the passageway.
All right.
Thank you very much.
You're very kind
and we've enjoyed singing for you
this afternoon,
but we would like to continue
with the Johnny Cash Show
and bring to you the man
that you've actually come to see.
I'm sure you'll enjoy him
this afternoon.
He seems to have
a lot of things in common with you.
Mr Johnny Cash!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
♪ Now, I taught the weeping willow
how to cry
♪ And I showed the clouds
how to cover up a clear-blue sky
♪ And the tears I cried
for that woman
♪ Are gonna flood you, big river
♪ And I'm gonna sit right here
until I die
♪ Then you took me to St Louis
♪ Later on down the river
♪ A freighter said she's been here
but she's gone, boy, she's gone
♪ I found her trail in Memphis
but she just walked up the bluff
♪ She raised a few eyebrows
and went on down alone
♪ Now, won't you batter down
by Baton Rouge, River Queen
♪ Roll it on
♪ Take that woman on down
to New Orleans, New Orleans
♪ Go on, I've had enough
Dump my blues down in the gulf
♪ She loves you, Big River
More than me. ♪
Yeah!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
You guys must say something nice
for the camera, now,
don't say "Shit"
or anything like that.
Can't put that on TV.
The fellas here on the bass
and the drums have been with me
for about 13 years.
This is Marshall Grant
and WS Holland.
Let's give them a big hand.
APPLAUSE.
The young man on the guitar
has been with us just a short while,
since the death of our guitar player
Luther Perkins,
for about four or five months.
He's joined the group
and doing a great job
from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bob Wootton.
WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE.
Well, we did a show at Folsom Prison
in California.
And, er... there's some pretty
mean-looking characters out there
compared to some of you fellas.
One guy I know is in for life
for stealing eggs.
LAUGHTER.
Here's some of the songs
we did out at Folsom,
and... we've done
at almost all of our shows.
♪ Ten years ago
on a cold, dark night
♪ Someone was killed
'neath the town hall lights
♪ There were few at the scene
but they all agreed
♪ That the slayer who ran
looked a lot like me
♪ The scaffold is high
and eternity is near
♪ She stood in the crowd
and shed not a tear
♪ But sometimes at night
when the cold wind moans
♪ In a long black veil
she cries o'er my bones
♪ She walks these hills
in a long black veil
♪ She visits my grave
when the night winds wail
♪ Nobody knows, nobody sees
♪ Nobody knows but me. ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Hi!
♪ We got married in a fever
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
♪ We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
♪ Ever since the fire went out
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ I'm gonna mess around
♪ Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ Look out, Jackson town... ♪
Look out!
♪ Well, go on down to Jackson
♪ Go ahead and wreck your health
♪ Go play your hand
you big-talkin' man
♪ Make a big fool of yourself
♪ You're goin' to Jackson
♪ You big-talkin' man
♪ And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
♪ Behind my Jay pen fan
♪ Well, when I breeze into that city
♪ The people gonna stoop and bow... ♪
Ha!
♪ All them women gonna make me
teach 'em what they don't know how
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ You turn-a loose my coat
♪ Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ "Goodbye", that's all she wrote
♪ Well, they'll laugh at you
in Jackson
♪ And I'll be dancin' on a Pony Keg
♪ They'll lead you round town
like a scalded hound
♪ With your tail tucked
between your legs
♪ You'll go to Jackson
♪ You big-talkin' man
♪ And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
♪ Behind my Jay pen fan
♪ Well
♪ We got married in a fever
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
♪ We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
♪ Ever since the fire went out
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ And that's a fact
♪ Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson
♪ Ain't never coming back
♪ Well, we got married in a fever
Ooh...
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
Ooh... ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
♪ Join your friends while you got 'em
♪ Cos you know
they're gettin' fewer every day
♪ You can't wait to let them
take you to the bottom
♪ And I'm gettin' tired
of standin' in your way
♪ But when you hit the ground
don't come looking around
♪ For the pieces of the love
you threw away
♪ That's the price of the high life
you're livin'
♪ And you still got the devil to pay
♪ You've been flying so high
you don't know that you're blind
♪ To the writin' on the wall
♪ But some day you'll look down
♪ And you'll find
you've got no place to fall
♪ When your bright lights are gone
♪ You'll be standing alone
♪ Forsaken in the naked light of day
♪ And then you'll know
that it's all over but the dying
♪ And you've still got
the devil to pay. ♪
MUSIC: Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash
♪ Love is a burning thing
♪ And it makes a fiery ring
♪ Bound by wild desire
♪ I fell into a ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ The taste of love is sweet
♪ When hearts like ours meet
♪ I fell for you like a child
♪ Oh, but the fire went wild
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ I fell into a burning ring of fire
♪ I went down, down, down
and the flames went higher
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire
♪ And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
♪ The ring of fire. ♪
HE MIMICS BIRD CALL.
GUNSHOT.
HE LAUGHS.
You want to get me,
don't you? You son of a gun!
Only place I can tell
he is hurt is... He's got one little
wing bone broken. It's not hurt.
It's not every day you catch a crow.
CROW SQUAWKS.
You son of a gun, you!
I already like you, for some reason.
I'll take you home and see if you
are hurt bad, OK?
HE HUMS TO HIMSELF
♪ If I had wings
like a grey goose got
♪ I'd leave you
whether my heart break or not
♪ I'd leave you
Woman, I'd leave you
♪ I can't make my feet walk... ♪
HE HUMS
♪ But if I could fly like Mr Crow
♪ Woman, I know I'd go. ♪
Ah!
One, two, three, four...
MUSIC STARTS.
I would leave them
completely off the intro.
And I would wait
until I am into the song, you know?
Have you got a little pencil?
I would keep that flat top guitar
way up on the intro
because that is powerful.
The way... with the drum slap.
Don't you think, Bob? Yes.
I just...
Because when they come in,
I can hear it, it's kind of a
pleasant surprise, you know? Yes.
I filled it up so you can have what
you wanted to choose from.
OK, cut all intro.
As we go along, Johnny, tell me
where you want them in or out
and I'll write it down, OK?
One, two, three...
MUSIC: Land Of Israel
by Johnny Cash
♪ From the top of Sinai
♪ To the Sea of Galilee... ♪
CREW CHATTERS
♪ Every hill and plain is home
♪ Every place is dear to me
♪ There the breezes tell the stories
♪ Oh, what stories they do tell
♪ Of the mighty things that happened
♪ In the land of Israel
♪ Here, where Moses and the prophets
♪ Spoke of one who would be king
♪ Of a heavenly messiah
♪ And the blessings he would bring
♪ Oh, to hear again the call
♪ All is peaceful, all is well
♪ Upon every rock and mountain
♪ In the land of Israel. ♪
Where my daddy was born. Yeah.
Kings land, that's where I was born.
Oh, great.
Well, do we go right past
on this...? No, we turn.
We turned south here,
on 81, to Monticello.
We're not very far off,
then, are we now? No.
We're almost there.
When you come from
either side of that river,
and that's part of the country,
you learn to understand most
everything, you have to,
cos it's a grind from the time
you get up till you lay down.
And there ain't nothing
given to you. You sweat.
Somebody in the family sweats for
that bread that's on that plate.
Right, John? Yes.
And it's usually the whole family
it takes to make a living,
whether it's cotton... and, er, the
people that's farming the land
is not the one that gets the money.
Somebody owns it
and you get part of it.
MUSIC: Daddy Sang Bass
by Johnny Cash
♪ I remember when I was a lad
Times were hard and things were bad
♪ But there's a silver linin'
behind every cloud
♪ Just poor people
That's all we were
♪ Tryin' to make a livin'
out of black land earth
♪ We'd get together
in a family circle singin' loud
♪ Daddy sang bass
Mama sang tenor
♪ Me and little brother
would join right in there
♪ Cos singin' seems
to help a troubled soul
♪ One of these days
and it won't be long
♪ I'll rejoin them in a song
♪ I'm gonna join the family circle
at the throne
♪ No, the circle won't be broken
♪ By and by, Lord, by and by
♪ Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
♪ Me and little brother
will join right in there
♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky
♪ I remember after work
Mama would call in all of us
♪ You could hear us singin'
for a country mile
♪ Now little brother has done gone on
♪ But I'll rejoin him in a song
♪ We'll be together again up yonder
in a little while
♪ Daddy'll sing bass
Mama'll sing tenor
♪ Me and little brother
would join right in there
♪ Cos singin' seems to help
a troubled soul
♪ One of these days
and it won't be long... ♪
CHEERING.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
BAND BEGINS, HUGE CHEER
♪ I hear the train a comin'
It's rolling round the bend
♪ And I ain't seen the sunshine
since I don't know when
♪ I'm stuck in Folsom Prison
♪ And time keeps draggin' on
♪ But that train keeps a-rollin'
on down to San Antone
♪ When I was just a baby
my mama told me, son
♪ Always be a good boy
Don't ever play with guns
♪ But I shot a man in Reno
just to watch him die
♪ When I hear that whistle blowing
♪ I hang my head and cry... ♪
Hey, come on!
GUITAR SOLO, CHEERING.
Ye-e-eah!
♪ I bet there's rich folks
eating in a fancy dining car
♪ They're probably drinking coffee
and smoking big cigars
♪ Well, I know I had it coming
♪ I know I can't be free
♪ But those people keep a-moving
♪ And that's what tortures me... ♪
Go for it! Yeah.
GUITAR SOLO.
CHEERING
♪ Well, if they freed me
from this prison
♪ If that railroad train was mine
♪ I bet I'd move it on
a little farther down the line
♪ Far from Folsom Prison
That's where I want to stay
♪ And I'd let that lonesome whistle
blow my blues away. ♪
MUSIC STOPS.
Do you think it's a main theme going
through country and western music?
A main message or a type of thing
you're trying to appeal to
in the country and western songs
that you do? Um...
Well, the things of country music
are much the same in other music.
There's love, and love is the main
theme of all music, of course.
Um...
There's much more sadness
in country music.
Um, I don't know what the real
reason is, maybe because, er
I don't know, because of the fact
that it is from the grassroots
and of the simple way of life.
MAN: Look up there.
There's some good-looking apples.
The best apples are still up
in the tree, way up in the top.
But I couldn't shake them down
without that.
CHILD: I... I don't want...
LEAVES RUSTLE.
Too many apples.
Johnny, that will kick you,
you better watch it.
Daddy, did you...? Watch it, she
will kick if you hit her back there.
Rosanne, watch it!
Watch it, Rosanne.
Walk behind her, honey,
she might kick.
I'm sorry, he was just fixing
to hit her back there,
and that would have been
all it would have taken!
There.
MAN LAUGHS: You go in behind!
Get over here, girl!
LAUGHTER CONTINUES.
Oh, John, please, that's cruelty!
CHILDREN LAUGH.
Go, Jenny!
CHILDREN CHATTER
Come here, come here, come here.
I'm shivering. I am too, I am cold.
I'm cold, I cannot continue.
I wish she would bray.
She brays just like her daddy.
MAN BRAYS.
Like Gordon used to do, you know.
Mm-hm.
The first year that we was at Dyess,
let's see, how old were you?
Oh, four years old. Four years old?
I went the runs at the river one
evening... Now, this is true...
Come on in.
SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY CHILDREN
come on in here.
JOHNNY: Come here!
CHILDREN CHATTER.
Waiting for them to just
come by... You have to!
I really don't have to sing
that song again, do I?
- LAUGHTER
- Yeah, I forgot that song...
♪ On Monday, we have bread and gravy
♪ On Tuesday, it's gravy and bread
♪ On Wednesday and Thursday
it's gravy and toast
♪ But that's only
gravy and bread... ♪
LAUGHTER
♪ On Friday, we said to the landlord
♪ Landlord?
Oh, please give us something instead
♪ So on Saturday morning
by way of a change
♪ We had gravy
without any bread... ♪
LAUGHTER.
Good for you!
JOHNNY APPLAUDS: Yey!
OK, girls, sing.
Daddy, you want to sing us a song?
Johnny, I ain't no singer.
There's one thing...
You would sing it in the bathtub.
And his name was Slicker?
What was that song? No.
Sing all them World War I songs.
No, I don't think I could do it.
About where you walked up to the fire
alarm box and it was in New York.
Sing that one. Oh, that...
Let me hear it.
Grab that propeller?
♪ I'd writ some letters on the train
that I wanted to mail back home
♪ And I'd tell 'em about the things
I'd seen and just how far I'd come
♪ I'd seen a box all painted red
and I dropped the letters in
♪ Fire engines came from all around
and the bells began to ring... ♪
WOMAN LAUGHS
♪ And oh, my, what they did to me
♪ Squirted water all over me!
I grabbed up a man and I said to him
♪ Haul me out, I don't want to drown
♪ He said, you're just a darned old
root from a high grass town... ♪
I don't remember all of it, sorry.
I ain't going to sing no more.
LAUGHTER.
Tom Ford used to sing that.
He learned that to me
when I was a little boy.
I was a little boy,
about four years old,
when the Mississippi River
broke the levee.
Floodwaters come over
the cotton land,
come up to the doorstep
at the front of the house.
One morning, I was laying in the bed
and I heard my mama hollering
to my daddy, she said...
♪ How high's the water, Daddy? ♪
APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
♪ Two feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
Two feet high and risin'
♪ We can make it to the road
in a home-made boat
♪ That's the only thing
we got left that'll float
♪ It's already over
all the wheat and the oats
♪ Two feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Three feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
three feet high and risin'
♪ Well, my hives are gone
I lost my bees
♪ The chickens are sleepin'
in the willow trees
♪ Cow's in water up past her knees
♪ Three feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Four feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
four feet high and risin'
♪ Hey, come look through
the window pane
♪ The bus is comin'
Gonna take us to the train
♪ Looks like we'll be blessed
with a little more rain
♪ Four feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Mama?
♪ Five feet high and risin'
♪ How high's the water, Papa?
♪ She said it's
five feet high and risin'
♪ The rails are washed out
north of town
♪ We gotta head for higher ground
♪ We can't come back
till the water goes down
♪ Five feet high and risin'
♪ Five feet high and risin'. ♪
APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
You were wonderful!
Thank you, nice to be with you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, how you doing?
OK?
CAMERA CLICKS.
Thank you. Thank you.
SOFT CHATTER.
Thank you. Thank you, girls.
WOMAN SPEAKS SOFTLY.
Thank you, how sweet.
When I thinks about the best
we could say about Johnny...
Why, that's very nice.
..I even got a tune to it.
Let's hear it. Let's hear it.
♪ Under lightning, rain or sleet
Johnny Cash just can't be beat
♪ This ain't no lyin'
It ain't no bluff
♪ When Johnny sings
He does his stuff... ♪
LAUGHTER.
APPLAUSE.
Aw, that's cute! That's very nice.
She wants you to play something
first. What? Great Speckled Bird.
I mean, that's asking a favour...
They will want me out of here.
Just... All right, open the door.
GUITAR PLAYING BEGINS.
Come in, honey, come in.
That's part of it.
We got your records...
♪ What a beautiful thought
I am thinking
♪ Concerning the great speckled bird
♪ And to know
that my name is recorded
♪ On the pages of God's holy word
♪ Desiring...
♪ To lower her standards
♪ I watch every move that she makes
♪ They long to find fault
with her teaching
♪ But really she makes no mistakes
♪ And when he cometh
descending from heaven
♪ On a cloud
like he wrote in his word
♪ I'll be joyfully carried
to meet him
♪ On the wings
of the great speckled bird. ♪
What do you think that means?
The great speckled bird is,
er, a symbol of the Church.
That's what it means.
You were talking about songs
being a part of me.
Now, we've bought some property
up near Smithville.
It's woods and there's a trout
stream running to the cliffs
and we were up there not long ago,
June, the girls and I,
and I sat down on a rock
and started writing a thing that
I don't know if it would be...
It might possibly be recorded
commercially, I don't know,
it's called, um...
Well, what, it's called, er...
What I Need Is You.
All I Need Is You, I believe, yeah.
You're All I Need.
HE BEGINS PLAYING
♪ Beside a singin' mountain stream
♪ Where the pussy willow grew
♪ Where the silver leaf of maple
♪ Sparkled in the morning dew
♪ I braided twigs of willow
♪ Made a string of buckeye beads
♪ But flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ Flesh and blood
needs flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ I leaned against the bark of birch
♪ And I smelled the honey dew
♪ I watched a flock of geese
♪ Against the sky of baby blue
♪ I walked among the lily pads
♪ Carved a whistle from a reed
♪ Mother Nature's quite a lady
♪ But you are what I need
♪ Mother Nature's quite a lady
♪ But you are what I need. ♪
I think that's pretty.
And there's another verse, of course,
I always forget the last verse.
SHE LAUGHS.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF
John always writes these songs down.
♪ A mockingbird sang in the trees
♪ And I thanked him for the song
♪ Then the sun
went slowly to the west
♪ And I had to move along
♪ I walked... I walked through
♪ I walked beside the wild oats
♪ Where the roebuck...
Where the deer and the roebuck feed
♪ But flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need
♪ Flesh and blood
calls for flesh and blood
♪ And you are what I need. ♪
That's another little thing
I wrote just
in one of my alone moods.
I didn't mind the hard work
on the farm all that much.
It's something
that we had to do and so,
we accepted it that hard work
was part of our life.
I'm sure that, if you've ever
lived on a cotton patch
or any part of the country
where times are hard,
that you appreciate the good things
when they do come much more.
John and I talked many times
about the old saying
and that line that says,
"Steel is strong because it knew
the hammer and white heat."
HE LAUGHS
I'm, er, I've learned, um,
to adapt very well to prosperity,
I like it.
From the home
of the world-renowned Grand Ole Opry
in Nashville, Tennessee,
the Kraft Music Hall presents...
The Second Annual
Country Music Awards!
APPLAUSE, FANFARE PLAYS.
With guest stars
Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins,
Pat Boone, Bobby Goldsboro,
Roger Miller, Jeannie C Riley,
Tex Ritter, Bob Wills, Johnny Cash!
The next award is for the
Country Music Album Of The Year.
The albums nominated are...
Best Of Merle Haggard.
Performer - Merle Haggard.
By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
Performer - Tammy Wynette.
Gentle On My Mind.
Performer - Glen Campbell.
And Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
Performer - Johnny Cash.
The winner is...
The Album Of The Year -
Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison.
CHEERING, FANFARE PLAYS.
Thank you.
I would like to say, first of all,
thanks to the people
that helped support me
to make this possible, to.
Luther Perkins especially.
Thank you.
APPLAUSE.
Mr Davies, how are you doing?
Hello there. How are you doing?
Hello. Hello.
How are you doing? What's your name?
Don Freed. Nice to meet you, Don.
Nice to meet you too.
Are you the fella that came down from
Canada? That's right. Saskatoon.
..Going merrily downhill, sort of.
He had such high ideals,
I kind of hated to stand by
and watch him.
♪ Come away from the roadside
♪ Your feat, it is done
♪ The battle is over
♪ You have both lost and won
♪ For the drums, they're but an echo
♪ Your trumpet players die
♪ Come away, come away
♪ And know how hard you tried
♪ The king, he holds the aces
♪ He has not held your hand
♪ The queen, with her embraces
♪ You did not understand
♪ And the seeds that have fallen
♪ Along the weary hobo's trail
♪ And just as they have fallen
♪ Don't let yourself be felled... ♪
HE PLAYS HARMONICA.
Good. Very good writing. Would you
like to hear another? Mm-hm.
All right. I'll sit down. Sure.
That's a beautiful tune.
A very pretty tune.
I'd like to get you an audition
with Columbia Records.
I don't want you to do it
just as a favour.
If you don't think I'm good
enough... I wouldn't do it
just as a favour. If I didn't think
you were good enough,
I wouldn't do it at all.
But I think you've got it,
so I'll be happy to try
to set you up an audition.
I want to hear another.
I'll see if I can find that guy.
HE LAUGHS
♪ Look a-yonder comin'
♪ Comin' down that railroad track
♪ Hey, look a-yonder comin'
♪ Comin' down that railroad track
♪ It's that Orange Blossom Special
♪ Bringin' my baby back... ♪
HE CHUCKLES
♪ Well, I'm going down to Florida
♪ And get some sand in my shoes
♪ Or maybe Californy
♪ And get some sand in my shoes
♪ I'll ride that
Orange Blossom Special
♪ And lose these New York blues... ♪
CROWD CHEERS.
"Say, man,
when you going back to Florida?"
"I don't know, I don't reckon
I'll ever go back to Florida."
"Ain't you worried about getting
your nourishment in New York?"
"Well, I don't care
if I do-die-do-die-do-die-do."
♪ ..Hey, talk about a-ramblin'
♪ She's the fastest train on the line
♪ Talk about a-travellin'
♪ She's the fastest train on the line
♪ It's that Orange Blossom Special
♪ Rollin' down the seaboard line... ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
COUGHING.
You want me to get in closer on it?
You want me to get in closer?
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barking
♪ And the day is getting dark
♪ As the night begins to fall
♪ Then the dogs will lose their bark
♪ And the silent night will shatter
♪ From the sounds inside my mind
♪ And I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ From the crossroads of my doorstep
♪ My eyes, they begin to fade
♪ And I turn my head back
to the room
♪ Where my love and I have laid
♪ And I gaze back to the street
♪ The sidewalk and the sign
♪ And I'm one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Yea-eah
♪ Well, it's a restless, hungry
feeling
♪ It don't do nobody no good
♪ And everything I'm saying
♪ You can say it just as good
♪ Cos you're right from your side
♪ That I'm right from mine
♪ I know it
♪ We're just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Dead right
♪ Down the street
the dogs are barking
♪ And the day is getting dark
♪ As the night comes in a-falling
♪ The dogs will lose their bark
♪ And the silent night will shatter
♪ From the sounds inside my mind
♪ Dead right
BOTH: ♪ As I'm one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ Just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand
♪ And a thousand And a thousand
♪ Another thousand
Miles and miles
♪ Yeah, a thousand miles
A thousand miles behind
♪ And a thousand miles behind
♪ I'm just one too many mornings
♪ And a thousand miles behind... ♪
I've got very little
Indian blood in me, myself,
except in my heart.
I've got 100% for you tonight.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Thank you.
♪ Gather round me, people
♪ There's a story I would tell
♪ About a brave young Indian
♪ That we should remember well
♪ From the tribe of the Pima Indian
♪ A proud and peaceful band
♪ Who farmed the Phoenix Valley
in Arizona land
♪ Down the ditches
for a thousand years
♪ The water grew Ira's people's crops
♪ Till the white man stole
the water rights
♪ And the sparklin' water stopped
♪ Now Ira's folks were hungry
♪ And their land grew crops of weeds
♪ But when war came, Ira volunteered
♪ And forgot the white man's greed
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ There they battled
up Iwo Jima's hill
♪ Two hundred and fifty men
♪ But only twenty seven lived
to fight back down again
♪ And when that fight was over
♪ And when Old Glory raised
♪ Among the men who held it high
♪ Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ Ira Hayes returned a hero
♪ Celebrated through the land
♪ He was wined and speeched
and honoured
♪ Everybody shook his hand
♪ But he was just a Pima Indian
♪ No water, no crops, no chance
♪ At home nobody cared
what Ira'd done
♪ And when did the Indians dance?
♪ And then Ira started drinking hard
♪ Jail was often his home
♪ There they'd let him
raise the flag and lower it
♪ Like you'd throw a dog a bone
♪ He died drunk early one morning
♪ Alone in the land he fought to save
♪ Two inches of water
in a lonely ditch
♪ Was a grave for Ira Hayes
♪ Call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ He won't answer any more
♪ Not the whisky-drinking Indian
♪ Nor the Marine that went to war
♪ Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
♪ But his land is just as dry
♪ And his ghost is lying thirsty
♪ In the ditch where Ira died. ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
WHISTLING.
Thank you.
♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh
♪ Sometimes it causes me to tremble
♪ Tremble, tremble, tremble
♪ Tremble
♪ Were you there
when they laid him in the tomb?
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away?
♪ Ooh...
♪ Ooh-ooh
♪ Sometimes it causes me to tremble
♪ Tremble, tremble, tremble
♪ Tremble
♪ Were you there
when the stone was rolled away? ♪
APPLAUSE.
They call it sharecropping.
And these are sharecropper houses,
bungalows, here.
Most of them are what they call
"shotgun shacks".
There's three rooms in a row.
A front room, a middle room
and a back room.
Each one of these houses
had a barn,
a chicken house,
a smokehouse, where the farmers...
They raised their own hogs
and cured their meat.
And they had a mule
and 20 acres of land here.
The next house, just up the road,
the line, the property line,
was halfway between the two houses.
They all had 20 acres of land
to begin with in 1935.
And this is one of those...
You called it a canal,
it's a drainage ditch.
This is ditch 40. Oh, wow.
Are these the banks...?
These are some of the banks that...
that my daddy and all of them
were cleaning off when I was
a water boy on the river gang.
I'd just soon wait over there.
The bus is heavy.
The only original building
in the circle
is the administration building.
There's the Dyess Theater where
I saw all the Tex Ritter movies,
Sunset Carson, Gene Autry movies.
There was a bank, a theatre,
there was a big co-op store
over there.
There was a nice restaurant there.
It was a beautiful little place.
Was it...?
The library's on down here,
isn't it? Mm-hm.
There it is. Frank Huff,
that I was telling you about,
right there he is.
Really? Mm-hm.
There is Frank Huff.
Hello, Mr Huff!
INDISTINCT REPLY
I got to get out to talk to him for a
minute. Just a minute, I'll get out.
Hi. Get out, get out!
I will.
Shall I turn it off, John, or...
You still live out here on the road?
No, I live here.
Oh, you do?
Is Jay still up north?
Yes, he is still up there.
Hi, how are you doing?
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Long time. Sure...
Is it locked? Yeah.
John, is that the same...?
Was that there, back years ago?
No, I don't think...
These concrete blocks were.
Sure looks smaller, doesn't it?
Yes, it's just amazing
how small all the rooms look.
Here's something
that broke me up, Louise.
On the floor there,
the holes where Mama's stove
wore holes in the floor.
We moved in this house
in the winter of 1935.
There were five cans of paint
sitting there on the floor.
It's all there was, remember?
Every one of us sat down in
the middle of the floor and cried.
First new house we'd ever owned.
This is where I'd sit
and listen to the radio.
I thought of that very thing.
Remember at night, Daddy'd say,
"Turn it down, John!"
He'd sit there with his ear
glued to that radio...
Did he think
if he turned it down...?
Yeah.
♪ My bills are all due
and the babies need shoes
♪ But I'm busted
♪ Cotton's gone down
to a quarter a pound
♪ And I'm busted
♪ I got a cow that went dry
♪ And a hen that won't lay
♪ A big stack of bills
♪ That get bigger each day
♪ The county will haul
my belongings away
♪ I'm busted
♪ I called on my brother
to ask for a loan
♪ I was busted
♪ I hate to beg like a dog for a bone
♪ But I'm busted
♪ My brother said
there ain't a thing I can do
♪ My wife and my kids
are all down with the flu
♪ And I was just thinking
of calling on you
♪ I'm busted. ♪
♪ I walked in the big yard
to feel the warm sunshine
♪ A ninety-nine-year man
stepped over to me
♪ He offered a smoke
and he said as I rolled it
♪ Tomorrow I'm going to break out
and go free
♪ They watch us by sunlight
♪ They watch us by spotlight
♪ But I know a way
for a man to go free
♪ Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
♪ The walls of a prison
will never hold me
♪ Next morning at breakfast
the old man was missing
♪ Then we all heard the rifles
high up on the wall
♪ He'd gone through the tunnel
just like he had promised
♪ And they said he was crying
when they saw him fall
♪ They watch us by sunlight
♪ They watch us by spotlight
♪ But I know a way
for a man to go free
♪ Down under my cell
I'm digging a tunnel
♪ The walls of a prison
will never hold me... ♪
INDISTINCT CHATTER.
I was hoping it'd be bad.
You know,
it's not like Folsom Prison,
but it gives you the same feeling,
doesn't it?
A prison's a prison.
That's all it is.
Go around,
back through the passageway.
All right.
Thank you very much.
You're very kind
and we've enjoyed singing for you
this afternoon,
but we would like to continue
with the Johnny Cash Show
and bring to you the man
that you've actually come to see.
I'm sure you'll enjoy him
this afternoon.
He seems to have
a lot of things in common with you.
Mr Johnny Cash!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
♪ Now, I taught the weeping willow
how to cry
♪ And I showed the clouds
how to cover up a clear-blue sky
♪ And the tears I cried
for that woman
♪ Are gonna flood you, big river
♪ And I'm gonna sit right here
until I die
♪ Then you took me to St Louis
♪ Later on down the river
♪ A freighter said she's been here
but she's gone, boy, she's gone
♪ I found her trail in Memphis
but she just walked up the bluff
♪ She raised a few eyebrows
and went on down alone
♪ Now, won't you batter down
by Baton Rouge, River Queen
♪ Roll it on
♪ Take that woman on down
to New Orleans, New Orleans
♪ Go on, I've had enough
Dump my blues down in the gulf
♪ She loves you, Big River
More than me. ♪
Yeah!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
You guys must say something nice
for the camera, now,
don't say "Shit"
or anything like that.
Can't put that on TV.
The fellas here on the bass
and the drums have been with me
for about 13 years.
This is Marshall Grant
and WS Holland.
Let's give them a big hand.
APPLAUSE.
The young man on the guitar
has been with us just a short while,
since the death of our guitar player
Luther Perkins,
for about four or five months.
He's joined the group
and doing a great job
from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Bob Wootton.
WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE.
Well, we did a show at Folsom Prison
in California.
And, er... there's some pretty
mean-looking characters out there
compared to some of you fellas.
One guy I know is in for life
for stealing eggs.
LAUGHTER.
Here's some of the songs
we did out at Folsom,
and... we've done
at almost all of our shows.
♪ Ten years ago
on a cold, dark night
♪ Someone was killed
'neath the town hall lights
♪ There were few at the scene
but they all agreed
♪ That the slayer who ran
looked a lot like me
♪ The scaffold is high
and eternity is near
♪ She stood in the crowd
and shed not a tear
♪ But sometimes at night
when the cold wind moans
♪ In a long black veil
she cries o'er my bones
♪ She walks these hills
in a long black veil
♪ She visits my grave
when the night winds wail
♪ Nobody knows, nobody sees
♪ Nobody knows but me. ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.
Hi!
♪ We got married in a fever
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
♪ We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
♪ Ever since the fire went out
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ I'm gonna mess around
♪ Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ Look out, Jackson town... ♪
Look out!
♪ Well, go on down to Jackson
♪ Go ahead and wreck your health
♪ Go play your hand
you big-talkin' man
♪ Make a big fool of yourself
♪ You're goin' to Jackson
♪ You big-talkin' man
♪ And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
♪ Behind my Jay pen fan
♪ Well, when I breeze into that city
♪ The people gonna stoop and bow... ♪
Ha!
♪ All them women gonna make me
teach 'em what they don't know how
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ You turn-a loose my coat
♪ Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ "Goodbye", that's all she wrote
♪ Well, they'll laugh at you
in Jackson
♪ And I'll be dancin' on a Pony Keg
♪ They'll lead you round town
like a scalded hound
♪ With your tail tucked
between your legs
♪ You'll go to Jackson
♪ You big-talkin' man
♪ And I'll be waitin' in Jackson
♪ Behind my Jay pen fan
♪ Well
♪ We got married in a fever
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
♪ We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson
♪ Ever since the fire went out
♪ I'm goin' to Jackson
♪ And that's a fact
♪ Yeah, we're goin' to Jackson
♪ Ain't never coming back
♪ Well, we got married in a fever
Ooh...
♪ Hotter than a pepper sprout
Ooh... ♪
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
♪ Join your friends while you got 'em
♪ Cos you know
they're gettin' fewer every day
♪ You can't wait to let them
take you to the bottom
♪ And I'm gettin' tired
of standin' in your way
♪ But when you hit the ground
don't come looking around
♪ For the pieces of the love
you threw away
♪ That's the price of the high life
you're livin'
♪ And you still got the devil to pay
♪ You've been flying so high
you don't know that you're blind
♪ To the writin' on the wall
♪ But some day you'll look down
♪ And you'll find
you've got no place to fall
♪ When your bright lights are gone
♪ You'll be standing alone
♪ Forsaken in the naked light of day
♪ And then you'll know
that it's all over but the dying
♪ And you've still got
the devil to pay. ♪