The Man in Song by John M. Alexander

Author:John M. Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781610756280
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press

Chapter 9

HEROES

HANK WILLIAMS, BOB DYLAN, AND OTHER MUSICAL INFLUENCES

A study of the singers and songwriters who influenced Johnny Cash’s life and music

From early childhood, Cash forged a strong bond with the music he heard on the radio in Dyess. He loved all kinds of music: the country sounds of the Carter Family and the Louvin Brothers, the gospel style of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and the pop sounds of stars like the McGuire Sisters and Dean Martin. But it was country music that helped shape his future and served as a paradigm for all that he would accomplish. During the Sun years he was able to record some of his favorite Hank Williams songs, along with pop hits of the day like “Sugartime.” By the time he moved over to Columbia he was able to indulge himself further by recording more covers of songs from his musical heroes. Cash was not finished with Hank Williams, either. Hank’s shadow loomed large, and his legacy would both haunt and inspire Cash during his entire career. At Sun he had recorded “I Can’t Help It (if I’m Still in Love with You),” “You Win Again,” “Hey Good Lookin’,” “I Could Never Be Ashamed of You,” and “Cold, Cold Heart.” For his 1960 country cover-song album Now, There Was a Song!, Cash chose to include “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” Hank’s most mournful and devastating ballad. Cash certainly delivers on this confessional masterpiece. We feel the sheer terror right from the opening line, “Hear that lonesome whippoorwill, he sounds too blue to fly.” Cash so admired and emulated Hank’s simple, yet profound, way with words and always sought similar poetry in his own songs.

For his 1962 album The Sound of Johnny Cash, Cash wrote “Sing It Pretty, Sue.” The song has an interesting history and owes a great deal to his earlier hit “Ballad of a Teenage Queen.” In this song, like its predecessor, a girl gives up all she and her lover had between them to pursue a glamorous career, this time as a singer. Unlike “Ballad of a Teenage Queen,” this song examines what happens when the fame-seeking former flame does not return. He’s content to watch her on TV and drop her a card every now and then to tell her he’s still listening. This song might have been influenced by Cash’s reported romance with Billie Jean Horton, the widow of both Hank Williams and Johnny Horton. After Horton’s tragic death, Cash helped console Billie Jean, and may have fallen in love with her in the process. She wanted a career in music, however, and turned down his marriage proposal.

Cash’s most obvious tribute to Hank would be the song “The Night Hank Williams Came to Town” from the album Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town. Country disc jockey and songwriter Charlie Williams cowrote “The Night Hank Williams Came to Town” with songwriter Bobby Braddock. Williams had written Cash’s early favorite “I Got Stripes” and Braddock wrote or cowrote numerous classics including George Jones’s “He Stopped Loving Her Today.

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