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I Had A Song Called "folsom Prison Blues" That Was A Hit Just Before "i Walk The Line." And The People In Texas Heard About It At The State Prison And Got To Writing Me Letters Asking Me To Come Down There. So I Responded And Then The Warden Called Me And Asked If I Would Come Down And Do A Show For The Prisoners In Texas.

-Johnny Cash

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I Had A Song

Johnny Cash

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I Had A Song Called "folsom Prison Blues" That Was A Hit Just Before "i Walk The Line." And The People In Texas Heard About It At The State Prison And Got To Writing Me Letters Asking Me To Come Down There. So I Responded And Then The Warden Called Me And Asked If I Would Come Down And Do A Show For The Prisoners In Texas.

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I've Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart.

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I Walk The Line Was My Third Record.

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San Quentin, May You Rot And Burn In Hell. May Your Walls Fall And May I Live To Tell.

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Every Week, Dennis Day Sang An Old Irish Folk Song. And Next Day In The Fields, I'd Be Singing That Song If I Was Working In The Fields.

I Knew Bob Dylan Was Searching For The Truth And Had Been For Years. And Anyone Who Really Wants The Truth Ends Up At Jesus

My Mother Told Me To Keep On Singing, And That Kept Me Working Through The Cotton Fields. She Said God Has His Hand On You. You'll Be Singing For The World Someday.

I Expect My Life To End Pretty Soon. You Know, I'm 71 Years Old. I Have Great Faith, Though. I Have Unshakable Faith.

Unshakable Faith

I Love The Young People.

When I Was Arrested I Was Dressed In Black

The More I Learn, The More Excited I Get.

I Came To Believe In A Power Much Higher Than I

It's Hard For Thee To Kick Against The Pricks

The Fire And Excitement May Be Gone Now That We Don't Go Out There And Sing Them Anymore, But The Ring Of Fire Still Burns Around You And I, Keeping Our Love Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout.

[my Mother] Called [my Voice] The Gift.

He Was Removed From Jail And Placed In A Place For The Insensitive And Insane.

God's The Final Judge For Elvis Presley And Johnny Cash Too. That's Solely In The Hands Of God.

My Contract With Mercury Polygram Nashville Was About To Expire. And I Never Had Really Been Happy. The Company, The Record Company, Just Didn't Put Any Promotion Behind Me. I Think One Album, Maybe The Last One I Did, They Pressed 500 Copies. And I Was Just Disgusted With It. And About That Time That I Got To Feeling That Way, Lou Robin, My Manager, Came To Me And Talked To Me About A Man Called Rick Rubin That He Had Been Talking To That Wanted Me To Sign With His Record Company.

You Build On Failure. You Use It As A Stepping Stone. Close The Door On The Past. You Don't Try To Forget The Mistakes, But You Don't Dwell On It. You Don't Let It Have Any Of Your Energy, Or Any Of Your Time, Or Any Of Your Space.

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Stop Your Ears And Close Your Eyes And Try To Find The Face Of Love.

Get Rhythm When You Get The Blues.

I Knew I Wanted To Sing When I Was A Very Small Boy. When I Was Probably 4 Years Old. My Mother Played A Guitar And I Would Sit With Her And She Would Sing And I Learned To Sing Along With Her.

If I'm Anything, I'm Not A Singer But I'm A Song Stylist.

Jesus Will Not Fail Me, I Shall Not Be Moved.

I'm Thankful For A Pair Of Shoes That Feel Really Good On My Feet; I Like My Shoes. I'm Thankful For The Birds; I Feel Like They're Singing Just For Me When I Get Up In The Morning... Saying, 'good Morning, John. You Made It, John.' I'm Thankful For The Sea Breeze That Feels So Good Right Now, And The Scent Of Jasmine When The Sun Starts Going Down. I'm Thankful.

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That Was The Big Thing When I Was Growing Up, Singing On The Radio. The Extent Of My Dream Was To Sing On The Radio Station In Memphis. Even When I Got Out Of The Air Force In 1954, I Came Right Back To Memphis And Started Knocking On Doors At The Radio Station.

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I've Always Explored Various Areas Of Society.

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As Sure As God Made Black And White, What's Done In The Dark Will Be Brought To The Light.

Black And White

It's Good To Know Who Hates You And It Is Good To Be Hated By The Right People

I Keep My Eyes Wide Open All The Time.

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For You I Know I'd Even Try To Turn The Tide.

I Love To Go To The Studio And Stay There 10 Or 12 Hours A Day. I Love It. What Is It? I Don't Know. It's Life.

It Was Kind Of A Prodding Myself To Play I Walk The Line Straight.

So I Simply Don't Buy The Concept Of "generation X" As The "lost Generation." I See Too Many Good Kids Out There, Kids Who Are Ready And Willing To Do The Right Thing, Just As Jack Was. Their Distractions Are Greater, Though. There's No More Simple Life With Simple Choices For The Young.

I'm Very Shy Really. I Spend A Lot Of Time In My Room Alone Reading Or Writing Or Watching Television.

I Just Hope And Pray I Can Die With My Boots On.

[my Mother] Made The Money To Send Me.

I Like To Sit On The Front Porch Of An Old Cabin I Built In The Woods And Just Listen To The Birds; I Like To Fish In The Pond And I Always Throw The Fish Back.

Canadian Railroad Trilogy Is An Extremely Fine Piece Of Songwriting.

God Gives Us Life And Takes Us Away As He Sees Fit.

When I Hear That Whistle Blowing, I Hang My Head And Cry.

It Just Took The Right Time. I Was Fully Confident That I Was Going To See Sam Phillips And To Record For Him That When I Called Him, I Thought, I'm Going To Get On Sun Records. So I Called Him And He Turned Me Down Flat. Then Two Weeks Later, I Got Turned Down Again. He Told Me Over The Phone That He Couldn't Sell Gospel Music So - As It Was Independent, Not A Lot Of Money.

Being Rich Means You Get To Worry About Everything Except Money.

However, Neither He Nor Anyone Else Could Have Become The Star Elvis Was. Ain't Nobody Like Elvis. Never Was.

Rick Rubin Had His Hair - I Don't Think It's Ever Been Cut And Very - Dresses Like A Hobo, Usually - Clean But . Was The Kind Of Guy I Really Felt Comfortable With, Actually. I Think I Was More Comfortable With Him Than I Would Have Been With A Producer With A Suit On.

God Ain't No Stained Glass Window, Cause He Never Keeps His Window Closed.

You Have To Be What You Are. Whatever You Are, You Gotta Be It.

Rick Rubin Said, Well, I Don't Know That We Will Sell Records. He Said, I Would Like You To Go With Me And Sit In My Living Room With A Guitar And Two Microphones And Just Sing To Your Heart's Content Everything You Ever Wanted To Record. I Said, That Sounds Good To Me. So I Did That. And Day After Day, Three Weeks, I Sang For Him.

I Met Sam Phillips When He Came In [studio] And I Said, I'm John Cash. I'm The One Who's Been Calling. And If You'd Listen To Me, I Believe You'll Be Glad You Did. And He Said, Come On In. That Was A Good Lesson For Me, You Know, To Believe In Myself.

When I Was 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.

I Always Loved Those Songs. And With My High Tenor, I Thought I Was Pretty Good - You Know? - Almost As Good As Dennis Day.

Oh, I'd Love To Wear A Rainbow Everyday, And Tell The World That Everything's Okay, But I'll Try To Carry Off A Little Darkness On My Back, Till Things Are Brighter, I'm The Man In Black.

Everything I Have And Everything I Do Is Now Given Completely To Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Of Christ Must Always Be An Open Door With A Welcome Sign For All.

I Learn From My Mistakes. It’s A Very Painful Way To Learn, But Without Pain, The Old Saying Is, There’s No Gain.

It Makes Me So Mad That Some People Underestimate The Wisdom And Energy Of Young People. All Because They Don't Look The Way Older Folks Think They Should Look. I'm Working On A Song About It. Maybe Some Of Those Closed Minded People Will Realize Long Hair And Tattoos Don't Mean They Should Be Ignored. Close Minded People Are Part Of What's Wrong With This World.

It's Like A Novelist Writing Far Out Things. If It Makes A Point And Makes Sense, Then People Like To Read That. But If It's Off In Left Field And Goes Over The Edge, You Lose It. The Same With Musical Talent, I Think.

I'm So Uncomfortable Wearing Colors In Public. I Really Am. Even Denim. If I've Got A Day Off In A Town, I Want To Go Out For A Walk I'll Put On Denim. But Almost Everything I've Got The Black On.

I Read Novels But I Also Read The Bible. And Study It, You Know? And The More I Learn, The More Excited I Get.

We [with Rick Rubin] Would Focus On The Ones That We Did Like, That Felt Right And Sounded Right. And If I Didn't Like The Performance On That Song, I Would Keep Trying It And Do Take After Take Until It Felt Comfortable With Me And Felt That It Was Coming Out Of Me And My Guitar And My Voice As One, That It Was Right For My Soul.

If You're Going To Be A Christian, You're Going To Change. You're Going To Lose Some Old Friends, Not Because You Want To, But Because You Need To.

I've Got No Deep Voice Today. I've Got A Cold. But When I Was Young, I Had A High Tenor Voice.

I Think In My World Of Religion, You're Called To Preach Or You Don't Preach. Called By God To Preach. I Never Been Ordained By God To Preach The Gospel. I Have A Calling, It's Called To Perform And Sing.

All Music Comes From God.

[sam Phillips] Laughed At Me. I Just Didn't Like The Way I Walk The Line Sounded To Me. I Didn't Know I Sounded That Way. And I Didn't Like It. I Don't Know. But He Said Let's Give It A Chance, And It Was Just A Few Days Until - That's All It Took To Take Off.

That Was American Recordings. I Said, I Like The Name, Maybe It'd Be Ok. So I Said, I'd Like To Meet The Guy [rick Rubin ].i'd Like For Him To Tell Me What He Can Do With Me That They're Not Doing Now.

You're So Heavenly Minded, You're No Earthly Good.

A Person Knows When It Just Seems To Feel Right To Them. Listen To Your Heart.

There's A Lot Of Things Blamed On Me That Never Happened. But Then, There's A Lot Of Things That I Did That I Never Got Caught At.

When I Record Somebody Else's Song, I Have To Make It My Own Or It Doesn't Feel Right. I'll Say To Myself, I Wrote This And He Doesn't Know It!

My Mother Was Determined That I Was Going To Leave The Farm And Do Well In Life. And She Thought With The Gift, I Might Be Able To Do That. So She Took In Washing. She Got A Washing Machine In 1942 As Soon As We Got Electricity And She Took In Washing. She Washed The Schoolteacher's Clothes And Anybody She Could And Sent Me For Singing Lessons For $3 Per Lesson.

I'm Not Really Concerned About Boundaries. I Just Follow My Conscience And My Heart. Follow Your Heart. That's What I Do. Compassion Is Something I Have A Lot Of, Because I've Been Through A Lot Of Pain In My Life. Anybody Who Has Suffered A Lot Of Pain Has A Lot Of Compassion.

I Worked There [on Pontiac] Three Weeks, Got Really Sick Of It, Went Back Home And Joined The Air Force.

[my Father] Did Every Kind Of Work Imaginable From Painting To Shoveling To Herding Cattle. And He's Always Been Such An Inspiration To Me Because Of The Very Kinds Of Things That He Did And The Kind Of Life He Lived.

Life And Love Go On, Let The Music Play.

I've Never Been Accused Of A Felony. I Never Spent Time Behind Bars Except For A Few Overnight Jail Times Back In The Sixties. [but] I Think There's A Little Bit Of A Criminal In All Of Us. Everybody's Done Something They Don't Want Anybody To Know About.

Gospel Music Is So Ingrained Into My Bones. I Can't Do A Concert Without Singing A Gospel Song. It's What I Was Raised On.

Six Foot Six He Stood On The Ground He Weighed Two Hundred And Thirty-five Pounds But I Saw That Giant Of A Man Brought Down To His Knees By Love

Don't Take Voice Lessons. Do It Your Way.

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Catherine Crier

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