"Johnny Cash recorded some of my songs early on, too, up in about '63, when he was all skin and bones. He traveled long, he traveled hard, but he was a hero of mine. I heard many of his songs growing up. I knew them better than I knew my own. 'Big River,' 'I Walk the Line.'
"'How high's the water, Mama?' I wrote 'It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)' with that song reverberating inside my head. I still ask, 'How high is the water, mama?' Johnny was an intense character. And he saw that people were putting me down playing electric music, and he posted letters to magazines scolding people, telling them to shut up and let him sing.
"In Johnny Cash's world -- hardcore Southern drama -- that kind of thing didn't exist. Nobody told anybody what to sing or what not to sing. They just didn't do that kind of thing. I'm always going to thank him for that. Johnny Cash was a giant of a man, the man in black. And I'll always cherish the friendship we had until the day there is no more days."
Crazy, rambling, confessional, score-settling monologue by Bob Dylan. And sorry, Bob, your voice IS shot.
Monday, February 09, 2015
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