Requiescat in Pace: June Carter Cash

Here's some sad news for a cold and windy Friday:

NASHVILLE -- June Carter Cash, the Grammy-winning member of one of country music's pioneering families and the wife of country giant Johnny Cash, died May 15 in a Nashville hospital of complications of heart surgery. She was 73.

I'm a big fan of Johnny Cash, both the man and the his music. But without June, there simply would not be a Johnny Cash, at least not the Johnny Cash I came to appreciate in the later years of his career. In his autobiography John wrote of the woman who was his partner and strength:

"What June did for me was post signs along the way, lift me when I was weak, encourage me when I was discouraged, and love me when I was alone and felt unlovable. She is the greatest woman I have ever known. Nobody else, except my mother, comes close. "

In an interview Cash elaborated about the importance of June in his life:

We have a sharing marriage, and we share the road, we share the bedroom, we share the backstage, onstage, we share the music, the feeling, and the emotion, and the joy of it, you know. And the pain and the sadness in it. We share the love of our children. It would be terribly lonely not to have someone to share those things with me.

And she's not only a lady who I share my life with, but she may have been the person responsible for my still being alive. She and God. Because she came along at a time in my life that I was on self-destruct, and she saw what I was doing to myself and she helped bring me back up out of it. And we've fought and worked hard to keep our feet on the ground since then. But like I say, today is a good day.

Let it be noted that June Carter Cash was far more than just the wife of Johnny Cash, she was a formidable talent in her own right. Born into the famous Carter family, she began performing at an early age, first with the original Carter Family group, then with her sisters and mother as Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. By the time she met Johnny Cash, June had already rubbed elbows with Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and James Dean; studied acting with Elia Kazan; and toured with Elvis. She acted in both television and movies, and could play guitar, banjo and autoharp.

But I have a hard time thinking of June and Johnny Cash seperately. In an age of disposable celebrity marriages and public figures who beat their wives or are unfaithful to their spouses, the story of their meeting, falling and staying in love is, to me, very moving. (Yeah I'm a closet romantic who likes mushy love romantic stories. So sue me.) Plus this meeting resulted in one of my favorite songs.

June first heard of Johnny Cash from Elvis, who told her of Cash's commanding voice and stage presence. They met in person backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956. They were instantly drawn to one another. June later wrote describing Cash's eyes and their effect on her:

"Those black eyes that shone like agates. I only glanced into them because I believed that I would be drawn into his soul and I would never have been able to walk away."

But both June and John resisted that initial attraction. They were both married at the time, and Cash was in the grips of what would become a life-threatening addiction to amphetamines and barbituates. From that tension and conflict - her love of Cash and fear of being in love with such a man, came the song that Cash would make famous - Ring Of Fire. June explained why she wrote it:

"It was about the way I felt about John. That song just was a part of me. It was fire and there was such a joy to it. Such a fire that I couldn't get out of. It just, sometimes went down so low that I thought I would die and lifted me up so many times that I thought the fire would never go out. Until that point in time, I'd never said it out loud. I kept it to myself. And at that time, it just needed saying."

Needless to say, June and Johnny Cash went on to have a long and happy marriage. Cash's mariachi-flavored version of Ring of Fire became a big hit. But the version I like - and the one I'll be listening to later - is on June's excellent solo album Press On. If you don't have it - and you like traditional non-Garth Brooks country music - go out and buy it. Now.

Ring of Fire

Love is a burning thing,
and it makes a fiery ring.
Bound by a wild desire,
I fell into a ring of fire.

I fell into a burning ring of fire.
I went down, down, down,
and the flames went higher.
And it burns, burns, burns...
The ring of fire,
The ring of fire.

The taste of love is sweet,
when hearts like ours meet.
I fell for you like a child,
Oh, but the fire went wild.

I fell into a burning ring of fire.
I went down, down, down,
and the flames went higher.
And it burns, burns, burns...
The ring of fire,
The ring of fire.