[lbo-talk] WWJD? or Walk the Line in Black?

[John Adams]

I had the good fortune to watch _Walk the Line_--Reese Witherspoon is 
so deserving of that Oscar--and later on hear a radio show on Johnny 
Cash which included the song "Man in Black". Each one managed to reduce 
me to tears, not simply because my father comes from the same part of 
the country as Johnny Cash (my childhood song about that was actually 
Roy Clark's "I Never Picked Cotton", but I've grown a bit since), but 
because I know for a fact that there's no goddam way that song, or 
anything like it, is ever going to make number three on the country 
charts today, and would be damn lucky to make fifty-eight on the pop 
charts, but that's where it sat in 1971. Here's the lyric:

Well, you  wonder why I always dress in black,

  Why you never see bright colors on my back,

  And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.

  Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the  black for the poor and the beaten down,

  Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,

  I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his  crime,

  But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the  black for those who never read,

  Or listened to the words that Jesus said,

  About the road to happiness through love and charity,

  Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're  doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,

  In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,

  But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,

  Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for  the sick and lonely old,

  For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,

  I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could  have been,

  Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear  it for the thousands who have died,

  Believen' that the Lord was on their side,

  I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,

  Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's  things that never will be right I know,

  And things need changin' everywhere you go,

  But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things  right,

  You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love  to wear a rainbow every day,

  And tell the world that everything's OK,

  But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,

  'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

I spent a long time eating in a cheap tacqueria with pictures of and by 
Frida and Diego staring at me last week, and it wasn't any less moving 
than this.

So, here's my silly-ass question: Given that today black is the new 
black, What Would Johnny Do? What would he wear? I know it's a silly 
sort of question, but it's the one in my mind right now, so I'm sending 
it to my two discussion groups that might have some clue for me.
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