Tonight we’re going to talk about men’s music. Let’s talk about possibly Johnny Cash‘s greatest album. “Solitary Man” became the third in the American Recordings series and the penultimate lifetime album for the artist. If the first record in the series was American Gothic with a naked acoustic guitar, then the second, backed by Tom Petty and his band The Heartbreakers, carried the ferocious spirit of rockabilly. By the next record, the formula was finalized: several songs by current bands, several original compositions, and a couple of fossils.
Rick Rubin, the producer of all Cash’s Americana, had nothing to do with country music. Moreover, having started playing music in the New York punk orgy, he further had a great influence on such controversial genres as hip-hop and thrash metal, making the best opuses of the Beastie Boys and Slayer. At a time when the main planters of the country industry had been making guitars meow with “trending” choruses and drums slap with plasticine since the 1980s, Rubin tore off all the foil from Cash’s music, returning the original fervor and adding horror, which had long been developed by such gangs as 16 Horsepower, Grant Lee Buffalo and others. It is worth understanding that it was Johnny Cash who influenced the formation of alt-country music, but the seedlings from the scattered seeds returned to him a hundredfold. So, Moon Dogs, “Solitary Man” is with us today, prick up your ears!
I Won’t Back Down, composed by Tom Petty and Jeff Lin, Cash sounds much more soulful, the guitar passages draw an immense expanse of fantastic prairies, and the spoken text acquires cosmic depth.
Solitary Man, King Diamond’s song, has acquired a tragic flavor that distinguishes an experienced wanderer from a green fanfare. Tom Petty sings along, Mike Campbell plays along.
That Lucky Old Sun, first released in 1949, takes on an anthemic sound thanks to the keys of Belmont Tench and a faltering, but finding new strength voice.
One, composed by the crooked self-proclaimed “world’s greatest rock band” U2, becomes a hair-raising masterpiece in Cash’s interpretation. After his version, the original sounds like a knock on plywood, accompanied by ridiculous bleating.
Nobody is originally an ironic opus by the first Black comedian of the USA, Burt Williams, written 120 years ago. The tragic story of a rejected man is coming out of Johnny’s mouth again. A full critical analysis of both versions draws on a separate article, so just listen and delve into it.
I See A Darkness is performed in collaboration with the author Will Oldham, the star of the Kentucky alt-country. A thoughtful sketch necessary for the climax of the album.
Mercy Seat, in fact, is the culmination. Nick Cave created an Old Testament painting in which the center is the instrument of execution – the electric chair – the “saddle of deliverance.” But when Johnny Cash says, “I’m not afraid to die,” you believe him implicitly. Cave is far from being so sincere.
Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) was first recorded by Tanya Tucker in 1973. She continues the theme of death, which Cash seems to have anticipated. Although the light of melody promises a meeting on the other side.
Field Of Diamonds, finally, is Johnny’s original song, where contemplation of the night skies flows into an analysis of existence. The lightness of music promises the lightness of the afterlife.
Before My Time is an absolutely Cash ballad, where nostalgia and lyrics do not turn into sugary jelly.
Country Trash is a soothing pill for American cattle. “The Lord has a place for rural scum.” Perhaps the Lord doesn’t know.
Mary Of The Wild Moor is reminiscent of Johnny’s Scottish roots. An absolutely Celtic yearning for a dying baby. On the Sheryl Crow accordion.
I’m Leavin’ Now is fervently performed in collaboration with country bully Merle Haggard. You will remember their “adios” for longer than it seems.
Wayfaring Stranger is a piercing folk gospel song with soulful violin passages and a weighty accordion (Sheryl Crow again).
It is impossible to convey the full power of this masterpiece album in words, so we limited ourselves to rare strokes on the canvas of the Internet page. We wish you to feel the wisdom, harmony and endless love that Johnny Cash has invested in this collection of musical diamonds. Adios, Moon Dogs!
