well, you know, johnny always wore black.

[intertribal]

Johnny Cash: "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

This video is so my aesthetic, wow (except I'd have it in color) - and not just because Kate Moss is in it.  I told my mom (who hates any and all country) that listening to Johnny Cash makes me feel comforted and calm the same way reading Cormac McCarthy does.  Not sure she understands/believes me, but it's true.  Strange things console me.  Guess they both remind me that my problems are so small and trivial in the grand scope of things, that there is a huge sprawling real world out there... sweat and toil and blood, purging it's good for the soul.

Comments

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

the video's not really my thing, but the song is awesome. it's funny in the beginning, though, because he's basically quoting lyrics to another johnny cash song.



Johnny Cash music tends to remind me of Steve, though. He says, "I've been a Johnny Cash fan since I was 3, when my father would play the stuff to get me to sleep." So maybe it makes him feel comforted and calm too. :P

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Man in Black changed my life when I was in Surabaya. I strongly, strongly relate to it. That's interesting about Steve, though.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

why do you relate to it so strongly? i like it, but i think i associate it with steve too much for it to be 'my' song.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Because I "always dress in black," if not literally then metaphorically... and this song sort of... articulated why. It explains why I like so many things that are considered depressing/dark/whatever. It certainly goes along with why I like movies that are more somber than escapist. "'Til things are brighter, I'm the man in black" is my anthem.

I also relate to "A Boy Named Sue," though for really crazy reasons. Like, from the first time I heard it I likened being named Sue to losing my dad. Obviously there are differences, but I can sort of relate to the anger/shame/search nature of the narrator, and at the end when his dad says, "I knew you'd have to get tough or die, and it's that name that made you strong/ but you ought to thank me before I die for the gravel in your guts and the spit in your eye, cuz I'm the son of a bitch that named you Sue", I love that part, along with "and I think about him now and then, every time I try and every time I win."

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

But...how can it articulate why if you didn't know it before? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing you do unconsciously. I can understand, say, feeling pessimistic and not realizing why.

steve does this literally, but i'm sure i've told you that before. except i think for him it has the added connotation of 'the government does not serve the people' or something.

"A Boy Named Sue" was the first Johnny Cash song I knew, cause it was on those tapes i apparently made you listen to...

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's why I'm not sure how authentic my relation to it is. It sort of... put two and two together, I might say? Like I knew that I did x and felt y but never put them together? I dunno. I see your point though.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

well, that makes sense, if i understand you right (doing x and feeling y and putting them together). but i wouldn't really worry about how authentic your relation to the song is...

[pgtremblay.livejournal.com]

Nice.

I can't watch his video for "Hurt" because it's just too damn sad.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

The Hurt video was my first exposure to Johnny Cash, and even knowing nothing about him I found it very moving.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

i cry like every other time i watch it. :P

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

His version of Hurt is like 10,000x better than NiN's, imo.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

agreed

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

although i have a live NIN version that i think is a bit better than the studio one