Johnny Cash Love Song Analysis

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Johnny Cash can be considered one of the best country artists of all times, but the soul of his music is rooted in the blues. Many of Cash’s songs are about the complications that come with love. The four songs listed above are only a few parts of the story Cash teaches us about the world of love. Most importantly, Cash does a wonderful job of explaining the complicated nature of love and how it really is the most powerful force in the world. Before diving into each of these songs, one must first understand how Cash is a blues artist just as much as he is a country artist.
Johnny Cash was born and raised in Arkansas. He was the son of a poor Southern Baptist sharecropper who moved his family to new farms when Johnny was only three (“Johnny …show more content…

His song, “I Walk the Line”, is a good first example of the nature of love. There are two interpretations of this song, one marital and the other spiritual, but for this argument the marital interpretation will be used. This was Cash’s first number one Billboard hit which he recorded in 1956 (“I Walk The Line”). This song was inspired by Johnny’s wife Vivian, and is about how their love will stay strong and how he will stay faithful through his rise to stardom (Beck). He opens the song with “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine; I keep my eyes wide open all the time” (Beck). Before his career even took off, Cash had to prove his love for his wife. Simply being married to her for years and raising your children was not enough prove it. This song also shows the twisted hold that love can have on your heart, visible in the lyrics, “You've got a way to keep me on your side; you give me cause for love that I can't hide”. Here, Cash tells us that he is blinded by love and that he has no option other than following his love for his wife. Ironically, this turns out not to be true. Cash’s marriage ended up falling through as he fell in love with his singing partner, June Carter. So, “I Walk the Line” tells us that love is binding, powerful, and cannot be

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