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

John Adams jadams01 at sprynet.com
Mon Mar 6 09:29:10 PST 2006


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. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 2840 bytes Desc: not available URL: <../attachments/20060306/0364d2bf/attachment.bin>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list