Customer Reviews

Cash: The Autobiography

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Johnny Cash had a profound impact on the American music scene, and much of that was due to his 1990s revival via his four American Recordings albums. This is a simplistic, downhome bio of Americana's Johnny, and though it's not sparkling in form, prose, or organization, it comes straight from Johnny's heart. It's well worth reading if you want to know a little more about how the man views life and learning.

It's not the most *interesting* bio, but it's a look-see into his soul. He's simple, he's straightforward, and he's honest, though he's not too giving of all the details. Hence his lack of candor. One thing you do grab from this is how Johnny and June were soulmates, how they shared life's best and worst moments, and how Johnny knows and understands any mistakes he's made there. Thankfully, he doesn't practice victimology and blame the rest of the world for his problems. Instead, he tells us he looks to God for guidance.

He tells the reader a few stories that will be new to them, in regards to his life of celebrity. Other than that, this is not a summarization of all that he's done or where he's been, but instead, it's a small window through which he viewed life and its assorted players. Read it if you are really interested in Johnny Cash.

I've recently become re-acquainted with the music of Johnny Cash. Thanks to seeing Walk the Line and buying Rick Rubin's astounding American recordings (American Recordings, Unchained, Solitary Man and The Man Comes Around), plus nearly all of Johnny's remastered CD back catalog (including the perfect The Legend box set), I've gained enormous respect for this charismatic and talented music star. I can't seem to get enough of him, in fact.

I wanted to know more about Johnny Cash. However, I nearly always approach biographies and autobiographies with a grain of salt, skeptical that they'll be (a) untruthful, or (b) unable to hold my attention.

With Cash: The Autobiography my natural skepticism was totally eliminated within the first 10 pages.

This book is wonderfully engaging. It reads exactly like a conversation with an old friend. In fact, I can hear Johnny's rich baritone voice in my head as I read it. I can picture his sincere face. And I'm enthralled.

If you want to know who Johnny Cash was, this book is a great introduction to the man. Not just because of what he wrote about; but, also, because of how it was written: conversationally, openly, honestly, and sincerely.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book. I love it.

I highly recommend Cash: The Autobiography.

Johnny Cash tells his life story in this book. It's not written in a linear style; he jumps all over the place to different times in his life. But it works; it comes across very conversationally, like Cash was in the room with you saying, "Oh, yeah, and then there was the time that this happened." It's a good read, and the Man in Black's fans should really enjoy it.

Cash was an old soul with many layers to his personality. For anyone who admires Johnny Cash the person, loves the music of the Man In Black, or just wants to read about a life that was lived as far from the chains of "ordinary" as it's possible to get, then this is an autobiography that will not disappoint. I was impressed not only with Cash's sometimes devastating honesty about himself and his views on his own failings as a father, a husband, a Christian and a man, but I kept thinking what a gift for telling a good story he had. There isn't a boring chapter here and scarcely a page escapes without this great American passing on an anecdote that leaves the reader laughing, awestruck, amazed, or close to tears. Cash was an original and a man of courage, insight and drive. Whether he was going against the popular stance and opposing the Vietnam War, or disregarding his record company's advice and playing concerts among hard-timers in prison, Cash did things his way. He experienced all the cards in life's hand from pain and tragedy, to triumph, glory and redemption, and, yes, amidst this extraordinary life, he also delivered a collection of songs that won him legions of fans the world over. After finishing this book, I admired Johnny Cash even more than when I started. His was a life spent standing up for the underdog and this book is his own story of how a sharecropper's son from Arkansas named JR struggled to the top (more than once) and became the legend Johnny Cash.

The chapters of this book do form a simple sort of outline, but that outline is loose. More likely it appears that someone gave Johnny Cash a dictating machine and asked him to record his memories as he traveled. From one location to another he records events from his life. The years and subjects meld together with little discernable order. The style of language is like a conversation.

But it works. I thought the book started a little slow, but then I grew accustomed to the style. Having read the book I felt I had a deeper understanding of the life of Johnny Cash, the backstage lives of country music stars, and, more importantly, a greater appreciation for my own life. After reading the book I realized that I wouldn't trade my life for his for anything.

I gave the book 5 stars because I have a feeling that it will stay with me a long time. There is something deep and tragic about this story.

I've read a lot of autobiographies, some of them self-serving, some of them whining, and some of them boring. Johnny Cash's is none of these, it is one of the best books I've read in recent years.

I read this book as someone who only knew him from his VH1 Duet with Willie Nelson, as well as his acoustic album American Recordings. Despite this, it was easy to follow his narrative of his life.

As I read about the man in his autumn years, I do not feel sorry for him. He was human, he lists his mistakes, and goes on. This is a man I can respect, inside and outside of music. That is the impression this book gives me.

Like a lot of people, I knew of Johnny Cash, and even liked a few of his songs. However, after watching Walk the Line and rediscovering his music, seeing a snippet of his life, I became enthralled. I've since bought several of his albums, plan on buying more, and was quite delighted to find a copy of this book.

I was expecting an autobiography, but I guess that's what the Man in Black is, which is sadly out of print (is anyone doing anything about that?). This book is more analogous to a journal, a collection of thoughts about Johnny Cash's life, career, friends, family, and music. It's a little disjointed, a little rambling once or twice, but who's journal isn't? It offers profound insight into the mind of one of the most brilliant musicians of our time.

Anyone who has been a long time fan, or just recently discovered Johnny Cash will enjoy this book. Just don't expect to read the exact story portrayed in Walk The Line through Johnny's eyes, but do expect to gain even more respect and insight into a modern folk legend.

Johnny Cash or the "Man in Black" was one of the most influential artists, period. He is the only musician in history to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Country Music. His second autobiography gives you an in depth look at his start at Sun Records and being on the road with other legends like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, the tragic death of his older brother Jack when Cash was only twelve, and living on Cinnamon Hill in Jamaica.
My favorite thing about Cash's book was the beginning when he talked about his humble beginnings in Arkansas picking cotton with his family, and his spiritual journey which saved him from his addiction to amphetamines early in his career. His autobiography shows you all the sides to the "man in black" good and bad, from his attempt to kill himself to being robbed on Christmas Day on Cinnamon Hill in Jamaica. He was a true artist who didn't stop growing musically even in his last months.
It's unlikely you'll find anything to not like about this book. With his tragic death last year his autobiography is a great way to remember the man in black; it gives you a greater appreciation for what he did for music. When I first began reading this book I didn't know much about his early life or career and soon I couldn't put it down. The book helps give you a better perspective on the man who broke all the rules with no apologies. With the help of Patrick Carr, Cash tells you his story as if he's right there telling it to you personally, intermingling life on the road and the loss of family and friends along the way. Cash's influence on music will be felt by everyone for decades to come.

I, like you all, am a huge Johnny Cash fan. He walks the line between a woeful crooner and a comedian. As Terri Grosse on "Fresh Air" explained, he combines the sacred and the profane. Cash retorts that a friend of his wrote a song that described him as "A walking contradiction, one part truth and another part fiction". This is Cash's second autobiography, his first being "Man in Black". This is the far better of the two, and I feel that Cash is more intimate in this book, but I also think that he holds back too much.

This book is one of an aging man, reflecting on his remembrances. It is based on different locations that Cash writes the book from, his different houses and his tour bus. He tells stories about the early days of Sun Records, he talks about his friends and famous aquaitances. At times it seems like he's name dropping, but not for self promootion, but historic preservation. He speaks of who he thinks is truly great in the history of Country music.

I guess that the San Quentin Prison record has just been remastered and rereleased, Cash is suffering from a nerve disorder but is still recording on American records. I guess that three topical compilations have been released one focusing on Love, one on God, and one on Murder. I'm glad that Cash left this record (eventhough he's a better songwriter than a book writer) of his thoughts and stories and passions. He's one of the great musicians of the twentieth century.

I had a fascination with Johnny Cash that began when I was a small kid, but I really didn't appreciate him fully until he was gone. There was something about his "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" that won me over although I had no great interest in his singing outside his novelty songs. As I got older I began to like the music quite a bit, but you don't have to be a fan to enjoy his book.

His story of growing up on a poor farm, a hitch in the military, his early music career, drug abuse, redemption, true love and a musical rebirth would work even if you'd never heard Johnny Cash tune. And it works mostly because it's such an honest portrayal of what a jerk he was and how he still struggles to be the man he wants to be. So many of these kinds of books are self-congratulatory, but Cash is just thankful that he got through it.

Along the way Johnny shares great stories of other famous musicians. He knew everybody even before they were anybody. I didn't know that he owned a house in Jamaica. I didn't know that he lived next door to Roy Orbison. I didn't know a lot of this stuff.

But the theme that runs through the book is Cash's religious faith and how it kept him alive. He says that he traded commercial success in the 1970s to record gospel music and that made him happier than anything else.

Some musicians are only interesting in what they produce over a short span of their lives. Johnny produced all kinds of music and hardly stayed in a genre very long, but he turned out to be just as interesting off stage and this book is a document of that.