I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash [Hardcover]

Marshall Grant Bas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2006

While many have heard the music of Johnny Cash, few know the whole story behind his extraordinary career and the stories of those who helped him attain his success. Marshall Grant, Cash's long-time bassist and one of the founding members of Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, chronicles their rise to fame from humble beginnings to world renown.
The genesis for I Was There When It Happened was a rousing speech by Grant during the nationally televised memorial service for Johnny Cash. After receiving multiple standing ovations, Grant was approached by several people, including former Vice President Albert Gore Jr., to consider writing a book. The result is a touching, revealing, and inspiring memoir about the Man in Black.
Beginning with Grant and guitarist Luther Perkins's initial introductions to Johnny Cash and the jam sessions that followed, readers will marvel at how their musical inabilities drove these three men to musical greatness. From Grant's humorous story of placing adhesive tape on his upright bass to learn the notes prior to landing their Sun Records recording contract and witnessing Johnny write "I Walk the Line," to his experience of playing with Cash at Folsom Prison, readers are taken backstage into Cash's inner circle.
"Johnny Cash was the greatest human being to ever walk the face of the earth," states Marshall Grant. While Grant and Cash experienced remarkable success in their careers, the most profound success was their enduring friendship until Cash's dying day. Through the good and the bad—and there was plenty of both—Marshall Grant shares how John and he "walked the line" for each other and those around them. I Was There When It Happened is a testimony to friendship and to the unique qualities behind one of the most respected and beloved entertainers of all time.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When coworker Roy Cash introduced his fresh-out-of-the-air-force younger brother J. R. (John, then Johnny, came later) to him, Grant says, "a funny feeling--a kind of tingling--come [sic] over me." For the next 50 years, Roy's brother would loom over Grant's life, as he would over country music, like a colossus. Grant played bass in Cash's road bands until 1980. He was also Cash's road manager, making housing and travel arrangements and getting Cash to the gigs. That became a Herculean task as Cash's entourage, and his amphetamine and barbiturate addictions, begun as early as 1957, grew. Grant figures that Cash was entirely off pills for only the six years following his son John Carter Cash's birth in 1970. Cash finally fired Grant amid baseless allegations of embezzlement. A long lawsuit ensued, but the men reconciled shortly before Cash's death. Throughout this immaculately edited mounting of his oral testimony (kudos and then some to Zar), Grant maintains that, sober, Cash was utterly lovable. The man he primarily presents, in a voice that couldn't be more congenial and disingenuous, is, however, a monster of self-destruction. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

This was a book that was an enjoyable, if at times sad, read... -- The Man in Black Fanzine, Fall 2006

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing (August 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581825102
• ISBN-13: 978-1581825107
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Cash, Johnny

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the most interesting and honest Cash book!, October 17, 2006

By 

Karen Santucci (Basking Ridge, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash (Hardcover)

Marshall Grant, despite what others might believe, would know more about J.R. Cash and Johnny Cash than others who have managed to pick the bones of the legendary singer over the last few years. Unlike others who seem to want to make the man greater than his legacy, Marshall Grant opens that dangerous door of letting the reader know exactly what kind of performer Cash was while never ignoring his all too human dark side - which was darker than some might want to hear about. Grant forces readers to face the fact (in a very untabloid-ish manner that grabs your attention and demands your respect) that while Johnny Cash only seemed like someone who redeemed himself to achieve the god-like status he has been cloaked in, he was way more flawed and damaged a person than most people might imagine...He had some very nasty demons who chased him nearly all of his life and who made themselves known in horrible ways - including Cash's unfair firing of Grant in 1980, the unfair rumors of Grant's departure which evolved into a major lawsuit, the enormous amount of money withheld from both Grant and Luther Perkins estate, Cash's questionable financial habits, the fallout from his numerous "no-shows," his demanding nature to act above everything and everyone around him at times, his constant battle of never completely ridding himself of pills again and again, and his many indulgences that were as destructive to the people around him as they were to the singer himself. Grant also balances out his portrait of John Cash by offering many recollections of the many acts of generosity and his uncanny identification with those far less fortunate than him. Above all, Marshall Grant finally gives the late Luther Perkins the enomrous credit so many others might trivialize. If you want to hear the truth from someone who was closer to Cash than anyone except June Carter than Marshall Grant's book (endorsed by Cash's daughter Roseanne) is certainly well worth reading.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, insightful, poignant and a balanced viewpoint- Gripping, May 26, 2007

By 

kooky Kid "Bookfiend1818" (east coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash (Hardcover)

Despite what die hards may think, I found that Marshall's tale was told in a balanced and moderate way, never lacking in compassion. None of us know the cause for addiction and certainly cannot claim to know the cure; but one of the hallmarks of the "dis-ease" is denial and in reading Cash's self penned book it seems that he seemed to be floating above the truth some of the time.As part of the viewing public we see the illusion that is embodied by these charismatic superstars and we get shaken when we feel someone has revealed too much of the human side of our idols. Marshall points out that Cash was the ultimate humanitarian, generous to a fault and always sympathetic to the underdog. When we are riveted to Cash and cannot take our eyes and ears away from him when he is performing, it is because he is all there in his human wretched glory- able to convey the poignancy pf life in every syllable. Marshall never slams and blames Cash, just explained life as it was for those surrounding Cash. There is a great deal of industry insider info, and lets not forget that while Johnny Cash was the headliner and the lead, Marshall was an artist as well, performing and sharing of himself on and off stage. I enjoyed the panorama of the story and I appreciate that Marshall has penned this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Marshall. Loved your book. Readers, BUY THIS ONE., December 15, 2006

By 

Billie Holliday (Concord, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash (Hardcover)

What a neat book. I loved all the humorous pranks that those wandering troubadors did to amuse themselves on the road. Priceless stories. The book is loaded with information. It's all here, both good and bad. I couldn't put it down. Sat up until 4:30am reading the sucker. But I must say, the last 50 pages or so, I couldn't stop crying. Tears streamed down my face with every line. I cried like a baby. I deeply felt the pain that both Marshall and John went through, and this book really stirred my soul. Marshall's stories are all so touching. I loved the ones about John pulling that little cannon through the hotel lobby; setting up and tearing down that makeshift bedroom in the elevator lobby just to confuse the bellboy; and one of the funniest stories I have ever heard in my life -- John's hijacking of an army tank for a midnight joyride on a military base in Korea (or was it Germany?), and poking its long gun barrel through barrack windows. The photos are great, and from Marshall's own scrapbook. Too bad he didn't include one of that little cannon, as I would love to see what it looked like. The darker stories were also well told: Glen Shirley, the hardened criminal that John worked diligently to have released from Folsom Prison. But Shirley was just that: a hardened criminal, and John eventually learned that the hard way. Very sad story. Marshall tells it like it was -- everything about Cash -- his countless givings of generosity to everybody he could help (even strangers, people he didn't know). And he also gives a grisly insight into John's dark side -- things that are disturbing to any Johnny Cash fan -- trashing of hotel rooms (and even Marshall's house), really for no apparent reason, and his addiction to barbituates throughout his entire adult life. His self-destructing ways and how that affected everyone around him. I am the same age as Cash, and have been a huge fan since the beginning. Actually, I lie awake nights worrying if there's a Johnny Cash DVD or CD "out there" that I don't have. However, I do find it difficult to comprehend John's physical brutality against June, as Marshall describes it, especially since everything I have ever read about them indicate they were totally devoted to each other and a very loving couple. I have also recently read a book by Peggy Knight (a must read), who was their cook and personal companion for 33 years. And she describes them as a loving couple who adored each other (which I do believe). Anyway, I absolutely loved the book. And after staying up till 4:30am reading it, I re-read it the following morning, since I couldn't sleep until I did. Bravo to you, Marshall. You have written a marvelous testament on the Man in Black. And thank you for not sugar-coating anything and being so honest. After all, you were there when it happened, and so I guess you ought to know.