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The First Time I Knew What I Wanted To Do With My Life Was When I Was About Four Years Old. I Was Listening To An Old Victrola, Playing A Railroad Song...i Thought That Was The Most Wonderful, Amazing Thing...that You Could Take This Piece Of Wax And Music Would Come Out Of That Box. From That Day On, I Wanted To Sing On The Radio.

-Johnny Cash

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The First Time I

Johnny Cash

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The First Time I Knew What I Wanted To Do With My Life Was When I Was About Four Years Old. I Was Listening To An Old Victrola, Playing A Railroad Song...i Thought That Was The Most Wonderful, Amazing Thing...that You Could Take This Piece Of Wax And Music Would Come Out Of That Box. From That Day On, I Wanted To Sing On The Radio.

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I Wore Black Because I Liked It. I Still Do, And Wearing It Still Means Something To Me. It's Still My Symbol Of Rebellion -- Against A Stagnant Status Quo, Against Our Hypocritical Houses Of God, Against People Whose Minds Are Closed To Others' Ideas.

My Mother Always Told Me That Any Talent Is A Gift Of God And I Always Believed It. If I Quit, I Would Just Live In Front Of The Television And Get Fat And Die Pretty Soon.

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

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.

Death And Hell Are Never Full, And Neither Are Men's Eyes.

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

I Wear Black Because I'm Comfortable In It. But Then In The Summertime When It's Hot I'm Comfortable In Light Blue.

I Kept Talking To My Producers At Columbia About Recording One Of Those [prison] Shows. So We Went Into Folsom On February 11, 1968, And Recorded A Show Live.

Call Him Drunken Ira Hayes, He Won't Answer Any More. Not The Whiskey Drinking Indian, Nor The Marine That Went To War.

All Music Comes From God.

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

People Ask Me Who Is My Favorite Country Artist. I Say, You Mean Besides George Jones.

I Recently Found Myself Going Through A Period Of Uncertainty About My Future As A Performer, My Status As A Personality, The Believability Of My Christian Witness And The Knowledge Of God's Will In My Life. I Felt A Force Bigger Than Myself Saying, 'lay Back. Take It Easy. Study Hard. Read Your Bible. Think, Write And Keep Your Mouth Shut For Awhile.'

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

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.

People Call Me Wild. Not Really Though, I'm Not.i Guess I've Never Been Normal, Not What You Call Establishment. I'm Country.

When My Wife Died, I Booked Myself Into The Studio Just To Work, To Occupy Myself.

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

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

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

Canadian Railroad Trilogy Is An Extremely Fine Piece Of Songwriting.

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

Of Travel I've Had My Share, Man, I've Been Everywhere.

When God Forgave Me, I Figured I'd Better Do It Too.

I'm Thrilled To Death With Life.

We'll All Be Equal Under The Grass, And God's Got A Heaven For Country Trash.

My Father Was A Cotton Farmer First And - But He Didn't Have Any Land Or What Land He Had, He Lost It In The Depression. So He Worked As A Woodman And Cut Pulpwood For The Paper Mills, Rode The Rails In Boxcars Going From One Harvest To Another To Try To Make A Little Money Picking Fruit Or Vegetables.

When I'm Gone I'll Be Remembered As The Workin' Man Who Put His Point Across With A Right Hand Full Of Knuckles.

Could It Be The Girls And Boys Are Trying To Be Heard Above Your Noise?

By The Time I Actually Recorded Bitter Tears I Carried A Heavy Load Of Sadness And Outrage; I Felt Every Word Of Those Songs... I Expected There To Be Trouble With That Album, And There Was.... When It Was Released, Many Radio Stations Wouldn't Play It.... The Very Idea Of Unconventional Or Even Original Ideas Ending Up On "country" Radio In The Late 1990s Is Absurd.

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

Black And White

Life Is The Question And Life Is The Answer, And God Is The Reason And Love Is The Way.

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.

The Hardest Thing For Me In Vietnam Wasn't Seeing The Wounded And Dead. It Was Watching The Big Transport Jets Come In, Bringing Loads Of Fresh New Boys For The War.

I Used To Sing Bill Monroe Songs. And I'd Sing Dennis Day Songs Like Songs That He Sang On The Jack Benny Show.

The First Time I Knew What I Wanted To Do With My Life Was When I Was About Four Years Old. I Was Listening To An Old Victrola, Playing A Railroad Song...i Thought That Was The Most Wonderful, Amazing Thing...that You Could Take This Piece Of Wax And Music Would Come Out Of That Box. From That Day On, I Wanted To Sing On The Radio.

I've Always Explored Various Areas Of Society.

Of Emotions, Of Love, Of Breakup, Of Love And Hate And Death And Dying, Mama, Apple Pie, And The Whole Thing. It Covers A Lot Of Territory, Country Music Does.

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.

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

Some Gal Would Giggle And I'd Get Red, And Some Guy'd Laugh And I'd Bust His Head. I Tell Ya, Life Ain't Easy For A Boy Named Sue.

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.

He Went Up To Heaven, Located His Dog. Not Only That, But He Rejoined His Arm.

When I Was 17 - 16, My Father And I Cut Wood All Day Long And I Was Swinging That Crosscut Saw And Hauling Wood.

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.

So We Raise Her Up Every Morning, We Take Her Down Every Night, We Don't Let Her Touch The Ground And We Fold Her Up Right. On Second Thought, I Do Like To Brag 'cause I'm Mighty Proud Of The Ragged Old Flag.

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 Daddy Left Home When I Was Three And He Didn't Leave Much To Ma And Me, Just This Old Guitar And An Empty Bottle Of Booze.

[my Mother] Made The Money To Send Me.

I Start A Lot More Songs Than I Finish, Because I Realize When I Get Into Them, They're No Good. I Don't Throw Them Away, I Just Put Them Away, Store Them, Get Them Out Of Sight.

Sam Phillips Responded Most To A Song Of Mine Called, "hey Porter," Which Was On The First Record.

I Did [picking Cotton] From - Until I Was 18 Years Old, That Is. Then I Picked The Guitar, And I've Been Picking It Since.

Why Me, Lord? What Have I Ever Done To Deserve Even One Of The Blessings I've Known? Why Me, Lord? What Did I Ever Do That Was Worth Love From You And The Kindness You've Shown? Lord, Help Me, Jesus, I've Wasted It So. Help Me, Jesus. I Know What I Am. Now That I Know That I've Needed You So, Help Me, Jesus. My Soul's In Your Hand.

Flesh And Blood Needs Flesh And Blood, And You're The One I Need

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.

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.

Deep In The Heart Of The Infinite Darkness, A Tiny Blue Marble Is Spinning Through Space. Born In The Splendor Of God's Holy Vision, And Sliding Away Like A Tear Down His Face.

Backstage At The Grand Ole Opry, I Got On My Knees And Told Her That I Was Going To Marry Her Some Day. We Were Both Married To Someone Else At The Time. ‘ring Of Fire’—june And Merle Kilgore Wrote That Song For Me-that’s The Way Our Love Affair Was. We Fell Madly In Love And We Worked Together All The Time, Toured Together All The Time, And When The Tour Was Over We Both Had To Go Home To Other People. It Hurt.

The Master Of Lifes Been Good To Me. He Has Given Me Strength To Face Past Illnesses, And Victory In The Face Of Defeat. He Has Given Me Life And Joy Where Other Saw Oblivion. He Has Given New Purpose To Live For, New Services To Render And Old Wounds To Heal. Life And Love Go On, Let The Music Play.

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.

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My Arms Are Too Short To Box With God.

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He Drank His First Strong Liquor Then To Calm His Shaking Hand, And Tried To Tell Himself At Last He Had Become A Man.

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

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

My Way Of Communicating With God As A Boy (and Often Even Now) Was Through The Lyrics Of A Song. . . . So I Didn't Have The Problem Some People Do Who Say, "i Don't Know How To Pray." I Used The Songs To Communicate With God. . . . To Me, Songs Were The Telephone To Heaven, And I Tied Up The Line Quite A Bit.

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

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

If You Have Political Convictions... Keep 'em To Yourself

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

Understand Your Man, Meditate On It.

The Ones That You're Calling Wild Are Going To Be The Leaders In A Little While.

When You Sing, You Pray Twice.

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.

We Went Down [folsom Prison] And There's A Rodeo At All These Shows That The Prisoners Have There. And In Between The Rodeo Things, They Asked Me To Set Up And Do Two Or Three Songs. So That Was What I Did. I Did "folsom Prison Blues," Which They Thought Was Their Song - You Know? - And "i Walk The Line," "hey Porter," "cry, Cry, Cry." And Then The Word Got Around On The Grapevine That Johnny Cash Is All Right And That You Ought To See Him.

Beneath The Stains Of Time The Feeling Disappears, You Are Someone Else I Am Still Right Here.

Life Is - The Way God Has Given It To Me Was Just A Platter - A Golden Platter Of Life Laid Out There For Me. It's Been Beautiful.

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.

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.

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.

I Walk The Line Was My Third Record.

Rick Rubin Came To My Concert In Orange County, Calif. I Believe This Was, Like, '83 When He First Came And Listened To The Show. And Then Afterwards, I Went In The Dressing Room And Sat And Talked To Him.

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 Haven't Been Familiar With Hard Work. It Was No Problem For Me. But First I Hitchhiked To Pontiac, Mich. And Got A Job Working In Fisher Body Making Those 1951 Pontiacs.

When I Was Arrested I Was Dressed In Black

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

[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.

I Took The Easy Way, And To An Extent I Regret That. Still, Though, The Way We Did It Was Honest. We Played It And Sang It The Way We Felt It, And There's A Lot To Be Said For That.

I Love The Freedoms We Got In This Country, I Appreciate Your Freedom To Burn Your Flag If You Want To, But I Really Appreciate My Right To Bear Arms So I Can Shoot You If You Try To Burn Mine.

When I Think About Country Music, I Think About America.

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.

What I Said, What Are You [rick Rubin] Going To Do With Me That Nobody Else Has Been Able To Do To Sell Records With Me?

All Your Life, You Will Be Faced With A Choice. You Can Choose Love Or Hate…i Choose Love.

I Came To Believe In A Power Much Higher Than I

There's A Man Going 'round Taking Names / And He Decides Who To Free And Who To Blame / Everybody Won't Be Treated All The Same / There'll Be A Golden Ladder Reaching Down / When The Man Comes Around.

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

They're Powerful, Those Songs. At Times They've Been My Only Way Back, The Only Door Out Of The Dark, Bad Places The Black Dog Calls Home.

I Started To Write The Song. And I Was In Gladewater, Texas, One Night With Carl Perkins And I Said, I've Got A Good Idea For A Song. And I Sang Him The First Verse That I Had Written, And I Said It's Called "because You're Mine." And He Said, "i Walk The Line" Is A Better Title, So I Changed It To "i Walk The Line."

My Father Was A Man Of Love. He Always Loved Me To Death. He Worked Hard In The Fields, But My Father Never Hit Me. Never. I Don't Ever Remember A Really Cross, Unkind Word From My Father.

I Was Wearing Black Clothes Almost From The Beginning. I Feel Comfortable In Black. I Felt Like Black Looked Good Onstage, That It Was Attractive, So I Started Wearing It All The Time.

I Wear Black For Those Who Never Read Or Listen To The Words That Jesus Said, About The Road To Happiness, Through Love And Charity.

Because You're Mine, I Walk The Line.

I'm Not Bitter. Why Should I Be Bitter? I'm Thrilled To Death With Life.

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

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.

The Beer And The Wurst Were Wonderful, But I Was Dying To Be Back In The South, Where The Livin' Was Easy, Where The Fish Were Jumpin', Where The Cotton Grew High.

I Got Really Excited About It. But Then We Went Into The Studio And Tried To Record Some With Different Musicians, And It Didn't Sound Good. It Didn't Work. So We Put Together The Album [unchained] With Just A Guitar And Myself.

Success Is Having To Worry About Every Damn Thing In The World, Except Money.

The Things That Have Always Been Important: To Be A Good Man, To Try To Live My Life The Way God Would Have Me, To Turn It Over To Him That His Will Might Be Worked In My Life, To Do My Work Without Looking Back, To Give It All I've Got, And To Take Pride In My Work As An Honest Performer.

I Developed A Pretty Unusual Style, I Think.

Life Is Rough So You Gotta Be Tough.

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.

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.

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

Creative People Have To Be Fed From The Divine Source. I Have To Get Fed. I Had To Get Filled Up In Order To Pour Out.

When I Get An Idea For A Song It Would Gel In My Mind For Weeks Or Months, And Then One Day Just Like That, Ill Write It.

Life And Love Go On, Let The Music Play.

I Admit I'm A Fool For You, Because Your Mine, I Walk The Line.

Low Self Esteem

When I Finally Stopped [singing], He Had Been Saying, Like, The Last Day Or So, He'd Been Saying, Now, I Think We Should Put This One In The Album. So Without Him Saying I Want To Record You And Release An Album, He Kept - He Started Saying, Let's Put This One In The Album. So The Album, This Big Question, You Know, Began To Take Form, Take Shape. And Rick [rubin] And I Would Weed Out The Songs.

Sam Phillips Always Encouraged Me To Do It My Way, To Use Whatever Other Influences I Wanted, But Never To Copy...if There Hadn't Been A Sam Phillips, I Might Still Be Working In A Cotton Field.

There's No Way Around Grief And Loss: You Can Dodge All You Want, But Sooner Or Later You Just Have To Go Into It, Through It, And, Hopefully, Come Out The Other Side. The World You Find There Will Never Be The Same As The World You Left.

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

I Love Bob Dylan, I Really Do. I Love His Early Work, I Love The First Time He Plugged In Electrically, I Love His Christian Albums, I Love His Other Albums.

I've Always Explored Various Areas Of Society. And I Love The Young People. And I Had An Empathy For Prisoners And Did Concerts For Them Back When I Thought That It Would Make A Difference - You Know? - That They Really Were There To Be Rehabilitated.

I Love The Young People.

I Shot A Man In Reno Just To Watch Him Die.

A Song Stylist Is, Like, To Take An Old Folk Song Like "delia's Gone" And Do A Modern White Man's Version Of It.

I Would Take Songs That I'd Loved As A Child And Redo Them In My Mind For The New Voice I Had, The Low Voice.

Inside The Walls Of A Prison My Body May Be, But My Lord Has Set My Soul Free.

I Keep My Eyes Wide Open All The Time.

It's Hard For Thee To Kick Against The Pricks

I Am Not A Christian Artist, I Am An Artist Who Is A Christian.

If You Aren't Gonna Say Exactly How And What You Feel, You Might As Well Not Say Anything At All.

Sam Phillips Asked Me To Go Write A Love Song, Or Maybe A Bitter Weeper. So I Wrote A Song Called, "cry Cry Cry," Went Back In And Recorded That For The Other Side Of The Record.

In The Air Force, I Had An Old Wilcox Gay Recorder, And I Used To Hear Guitar Runs On That Recorder Going (vocalizing) Like The Chords On "i Walk The Line." And I Always Wanted To Write A Love Song Using That Theme, That Tune.

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.

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.

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.

Convicts Are The Best Audience I Ever Played For.

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

Gospel Music Was The Thing That Inspired Me As A Child Growing Up On A Cotton Farm, Where Work Was Drudgery And It Was So Hard That When I Was In The Field I Sang All The Time. Usually Gospel Songs Because They Lifted Me Up Above That Black Dirt.

I Found Out That There Weren't Too Many Limitations, If I Did It My Way.

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

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

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.

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

Now That I Know That I've Needed You So, Help Me, Jesus. My Soul's In Your Hand.

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

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

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.

Take One Fresh And Tender Kiss Add One Stolen Night Of Bliss One Girl, One Boy, Some Grief, Some Joy Memories Are Made Of This.

I Wear The Black For Those Who Never Read.

Love Is A Burning Thing And It Makes A Firey Ring.

Sometimes I Am Two People. Johnny Is The Nice One. Cash Causes All The Trouble. They Fight.

I Could Wrap Myself In The Warm Cocoon Of A Song And Go Anywhere.

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

Get Rhythm When You Get The Blues.

You Know, The Man's Best Friend Is His Dog... If He's Got Nothing Else.

After About Three Lessons [my] Voice Teacher Said, "don't Take Voice Lessons. Do It Your Way. You're A Song Stylist. Always Do It Your Way."

Help Me, Jesus. I Know What I Am.

This Business I'm In Is Different. It's Special. The People Around Me Feel Like Brothers And Sisters. We Hardly Know Each Other, But We're That Close; Somehow There's Been An Immediate Bonding Between Total Strangers. We Share Each Other's Triumphs, And When One Of Us Gets Hurt, We All Bleed - It's Corny, I Know, But It's True. I've Never Experienced Anything Like This Before. It's Great. It Turns Up The Heat In Life.

Prisoners Are The Greatest Audience That An Entertainer Can Perform To.

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

I Say I'm Not A Singer, So That Means I Can't Sing. But - Doesn't It?

Well, I Take Great Comfort In The Words Of The Apostle Paul Who Said, ‘what I Will To Do, That I Do Not Practice. But What I Hate, That I Do.’ And He Said, ‘it Is No Longer I Who Do It, But The Sin That Dwells Within Me. But Who,’ He Asks, ‘will Deliver Me From This Body Of Death?’ And He Answers For Himself And For Me, ‘through Jesus Christ The Lord.'

I Knew That When I Left There At The Age Of 18, I Wouldn't Be Back. And It Was Common Knowledge Among All The People There That When You Graduate From High School Here, You Go To College Or Go Get A Job Or Something And Do It On Your Own.

I Sang Those Old Gospel Songs For My Mother, And She Said, Is That You? And I Said, Yes, Ma'am. And She Came Over And Put Her Arms Around Me And Said, God's Got His Hands On You.

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.

The Requests Started Coming In From Other Prisoners All Over The United States. And Then The Word Got Around. So I Always Wanted To Record That, You Know, To Record A Show Because Of The Reaction I Got. It Was Far And Above Anything I Had Ever Had In My Life, The Complete Explosion Of Noise And Reaction That They Gave Me With Every Song. So Then I Came Back The Next Year And Played The Prison Again, The New Year's Day Show, Came Back Again A Third Year And Did The Show.

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

Happiness Is Being At Peace, Being With Loved Ones, Being Comfortable...but Most Of All, It's Having Those Loved Ones.

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

The Battle Against The Dark One And The Clinging To The Right One Is What My Life Is About.

It's All Fleeting. As Fame Is Fleeting, So Are All The Trappings Of Fame Fleeting. The Money, The Clothes, The Furniture.

[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.

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 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.

You've Got A Song You're Singing From Your Gut, You Want That Audience To Feel It In Their Gut. And You've Got To Make Them Think That You're One Of Them Sitting Out There With Them Too. They've Got To Be Able To Relate To What You're Doing.

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

I Had An Empathy For Prisoners And Did Concerts For Them Back When I Thought That It Would Make A Difference - You Know? - That They Really Were There To Be Rehabilitated.

Making A Difference

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.

One Day, I Just Decided I'm Ready To Go. So I Went Down With My Guitar And Sat On The Front Steps Of Sam Phillips Recording Studio.

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

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!

I Wear The Black For The Poor And The Beaten Down, Livin’ In The Hopeless, Hungry Side Of Town.

Come On Boys, You Must Listen Unto Me, Lay Off The Whiskey And Let That Cocaine Be.

The More I Learn, The More Excited I Get.

Everybody Was Wearing Rhinestones, All Those Sparkly Clothes, And Cowboy Boots. I Decided To Wear A Black Shirt And Pants And See If I Could Get By With It. I Did And I've Worn Black Clothes Ever Since.

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James Russell Lowell

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