The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 624

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Number 624 - Johnny Cash

Number 624

Johnny Cash

"(Ghost) Riders In The Sky"

(1986)
.

Genre:Country

Yes, i said i would watch the film when "Johnny Cash" was last in the "Definitive 1000" but ah, still have not found the time. Plus! i have read some certain reviews affectionate to the Man In Black that it was not worth watching. But who gives a rats bottom what reviewers think, right? Just Look at some of the reviews by Rolling Stone Magazine. Shocking.This track by Johnny Cash has to be one of the coolest he ever did, just adding more to his dark persona. Yippee Yi Yay!

26.02.32 to 12.09.03

When Johnny Cash died in 2003, he left behind a vast legacy of recorded music spanning half a century. Cash was a mythical figure who embodied much of what was good, bad, and sometimes contradictory about America. In his early days on Sun Records, he walked the line between rockabilly and country, demonstrating a common touch that appealed to both audiences. He was a born-again Christian whose gospel albums thundered with indignation over humankind's sinful ways. He was also a recidivist drug addict whose bad habits led to periods of ill health and rehabilitation. He espoused political stances and created an indelible persona. On 1971's Man in Black, which found him at peak popularity, he declared his intention to protest poverty, prejudice, and society's ills by cloaking himself in black until things changed. His seeming contradictions only underscored his complexity, and he continued to wear black until his death, at age 71.

For more on Johnny Cash see Number 705

What does Rolling Stone think about Johnny Cash?
To be sure, Cash's prolific discography --numbering over a hundred albums, not counting compi-lations, repackages, box sets, and greatest hits --includes its share of mediocrities. There are even some outright duds and follies. (Mean as Hell! and Everybody Loves a Nut, from the '60s, and The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me and Look at Them Beans, from the '70s, leap to mind.) Still, Cash moved fearlessly forward and kept at his calling with a righteous sense of mission. Much of the time, remarkable things happened when Cash hit the studio or stage. He cut one of the better (and more popular) albums of his career in 2002, with American IV: The Man Comes Around. Such things just don't happen to popular musicians at age 70. The secret: Johnny Cash stayed hungry and remained true to himself. RS

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Hell No ! we are a God fearing magazine!) and the Album ranked at Number (Amen)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 71.5 out of 108 pts