Strawberry Cake
Recored Live At The Palladium, London
England
Strawberry Cake
On a hot summer afternoon in
New York City, June and I walked through the zoo in Central Park. It was a hot dog and ice
cream day. The place was crowed and giving up on the Hassle of working our way through the
crowd, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert that night at the Garden
State Art Center. As we approached the hotel, I saw a bum lying on the sidewalk in front
of the hotel. He never even opened his eyes when I stood over him, June said, "Come
On Honey" But I said "just a minute" I walked around him, hoping he
wasn’t dead. My shadow fell across him and when I moved on, I saw his eyes flutter as
the bright sunlight hit his face. He didn’t open his eyes, but I knew he wasn’t
dead. "What are you doing?" June asked "I’m thinking about my friend
here, "I said" "that could be me, you know" June came over closer and
smiled at me. "That was you a couple of times." Then she said again, "Come
on lets go" The rest of the story is in the song. I became that man. I put myself in
his place and my mind, he finally won. I wish I knew who he is, and where he is. I’d
send him a piece of Strawberry Cake.
By your possession of this album,
you can consider yourself having been present twenty years ago in 1955. At the start of a
career and it sound at Sun Records Studio in Memphis Tennessee, as Johnny Cash and the
Tennessee Two cut their first record to a recently as September 1975. When Johnny Cash
presented at London England’s Palladium his Johnny Cash Concert. From the standpoint
of "Sound" to have been present at one would be the same as having attended the
other. Times change, tastes change, and in order to conform some artists must change.
Johnny Cash changed in keeping with the times; but as it turned out, not keeping with
tastes. Many opinions were expressed to John and me, as to what should be done for the
sake of conformity. Innovations were tried new arrangements, different material,
engineering "gimmicks" but fortunately one item defied change. Through it all
the voice and style remained constant and identifiable in some cases, nevertheless still
there. If any change is perceptible in today’s recordings, as compared to those of
twenty years ago, that change is of time as related to maturity of voice. This album,
then, brings us around full circle. Back to the start of a career and sound. To point from
which a digression was never needed. Here is what you have demanded. The basic honest,
up-front Johnny Cash …. Better than ever Charlie
Bragg
Links To Words of
Other Songs
Home Of The
Blues
Big River
I walk The
Line
(
Ghost ) Riders In The Sky
Hank
And Joe And Me
Forty
Shades Of Green
All Over
Again & What I Care
Orange
Blossom Special
Revised: September 02, 2007 |
