Module 4-1

Weekly Written Analysis 4:

The topic that I decided to choose for this week was the musician Johnny Cash. He is a popular culture icon, because of his success reaching all listeners of music, not just country music fans. He sang songs about life that people could relate to. Johnny Cash had a realism about him that people could identify with even if they did not like his music. In his deep, distinctive voice he sang about family, about working, about prison, about being lonely, and about death. People from all ages and all walks of life know his name and his legacy.

Johnny Cash’s life was as interesting as the music he wrote. The movie Walk The Line released in 2005 was a great movie that I enjoyed thoroughly. The actor Joaquin Phoenix played Cash and the actress Reese Witherspoon played his second wife June Carter Cash which she won an academy award for her performance in the film. This film depicted Cash’s life from his frost marriage, to his drug addiction, his rising success, and eventually him living a peaceful life with his second wife June.

Even before I saw the movie I liked Johnny Cash’s music and listened to it often. I own several of his albums and have even performed his hit song Folsom Prison Blues with a local band. I was bartending at a club and they singer asked me to come up and said what do you want to sing? I said Johnny Cash baby! That is my small claim to fame. The best thing about Johnny Cash is that everyone knows one of songs when you play it. Everyone in the room starts singing right along. All of his music is not just the run of the mill boring country music, some of it is, but some is widely recognizable because much of his music crossed over to the pop charts. That is why if I get the chance again, I am singing Johnny Cash.

References:
Walk The Line (2005). (2007 December 2). Retrieved on December 2, 2007 from IMDb: The Internet Movie database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068646/