Expecting Rain

I read somewhere that Dylan isn't a fan of Johnny Cash' more current stuff, basically because it doesn't compare to his early stuff where he had a powerful, booming voice. I sort of feel like that's an unfair statement to make, considering Bob's current voice doesn't exactly do justice to his voice in his prime. Maybe that's just me?

Where did you read that, Jal ? I'm not saying that you're mistaken, but
i would be very surprised to hear that Bob dissed Johnny Cash.

here's the statement Bob made at the time of Johnny's death:
http://www.frankgrizzard.info/public_html/cash.html

- i think they were pretty good friends

Oh no I know they were good friends. I think he was just saying that Johnny's later stuff didn't do his earlier stuff justice. I'm not sure where I read it, it might have been someone's post on here actually. So I don't know how truthful the statement actually is.

Here's the quote, from Rolling Stone, 2009 :
"I tell people if they are interested that they should listen to Johnny on his Sun records and reject all that notorious low-grade stuff he did in his later years. It can't hold a candlelight to the frightening depth of the man that you hear on his early records. That's the only way he should be remembered".

Yes! That was it.

Didn't Bob also diss Johnny in some (radio?) interview from the early '60s?

"notorious low-grade stuff"--doesn't sound like he's talking about the American Recordings, he might've gotten his decades mixed-up.

I don't know. There's this exchange between Dylan and Lennon on Eat The Document :


Dylan: I have Johnny Cash in my film. Are you gonna shit yourself when you
see it. You won't believe it.

Lennon: Hey! John's gonna shit again!

Dylan: He doesn't know. You know what he looks like, right, Johnny Cash?
Have you spent much time around him? He moves great. He moves like
that. (Makes Dave Berry/human sloth-type gesture). (To Pennebaker)
You gotta cut that part of the film, man, 'cos I really like him. He
moves like all good people. Like prize fighters. (Smiles directly to
camera) Johnny!

Lennon: Johnny! Big River, Big River! (Makes Macca-like thumbs aloft gesture
of approval)

Pennebaker: (Putting head around camera and beaming) That's for Johnny, too!

Dylan: Yeah, he's on film too. He's incredible.




From : http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/f ... s/etd.html


Also, I think Hurt is great, but I can see Dylan dismissing it.

I love Johnny's last CDs. His voice was so sad after June died. Hurt, Solitary Man, One, and If You Could Read My Mind are superb; better than the originals. I never liked Solitary Man until Johnny sang it and One is one of my favorite songs, but Johnny did it better than Bono! I didn't think that was possible. Love, Joanna XOXO P.S. The videos are great too. If You Could Read My Mind with Johnny singing brings me to tears every time. Bob is wrong on this I think, but Johnny's earlier stuff is great too! I just like sad songs. Hi Trev!

Yeah I really like his last few albums. American lV: The Man Comes Around is my favorite. Every track is great, and I love how he closes it out with, "We'll Meet Again." So fitting. Of course I enjoyed his earlier stuff as well, but I don't think his later albums should be kicked aside.

Check out Johnny Cash's 1990 version of "Cat's in the Cradle":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lA0rUvC5Q

Maybe that was a way of saying something without spelling out each letter?... Like saying after someone else was so involved in his art, its beauty was being covered by stuff. (noise) The Sun Records feel was another place in time, more clean, less manipulation. I took it to mean he loved the essential Johnny, not the manufactured one. And I think he knows what he's talking about.

I think this might be out of context a bit….

I believe the discussion was about the releases that were done after JC died. That maybe there was one too many late releases done. But I am quite sure that I am correct saying that Bob Dylan loves Johnny Cash, both the man and the music. Johnny Cash’s was a music powerhouse his whole career, but his early recordings done at Sun Records are really special.

In NDH, Dylan talked about meeting JC at Newport in the early 60’s. He said he was like “a religious figure to me, and to have him at Newport singing one of my songs was a high thrill of a lifetime”….. (pretty sure I got that quote right). I think it would impossible to find a true quote where Dylan says anything negative about Cash.

Lily Rose, Bob loved Johnny and vice versa! I believe he adored Johnny! Love, Joanna XOXO

He might have been referring to those late 80s albums Johnny did for Mercury (?). They're shitty.

I forgot about those! That made me laugh Giada! Like I told you, you say some very funny things in just a few words - the Hemingway of ER! Love, Joanna XOXO

Nice to see you in General Discusion JO! Here's the quote in context :

When I ask him if he thinks much about Cash, who died in September 2003, he turns sombre.

'Yeah, I do. I do miss him. But I started missing him about 10 years before he actually kicked the bucket.'

What does that mean?

'You know, it's hard to talk about. I tell people if they are interested that they should listen to Johnny on his Sun Records and reject all that notorious low-grade stuff he did in his later years. It can't hold a candlelight to the frightening depth of the man that you hear on his early records. That's the only way he should be remembered.'

Now you could, Giada, just about make a case for Dylan getting confused and attacking the wrong albums, but I really doubt it.

There's no doubting Dylan's long standing love and respect for Cash by the way. They had a personal correspondence from early on in Dylan's career, and Cash said he never showed those letters to anyone, even his wife Reese Witherspoon! The friendship between the two, and the tributes they paid each other (Cash's liner notes to Nashville Skyline, Dylan's eulogising of Cash as the North Star) was a delightful thing. Even if there was some mild grouching from Dylan here later on, and even that aimed at pointing people to Cash's steallar Sun stuff, it was touching to see two great lone troubadors back each other up.

Johnny Cash was married to Reese Witherspoon??????

Wow the things you can learn on ER

Idk, I guess he could've been talking about the American Recordings, but the "notorious low-grade stuff" bit is odd, those albums have been universally praised.

Were there ever rumors of a rift between the two during the last years of Johnny's life?

I wouldn't normally speak against Bob, but I was a little disappointed to have read what he said about Johnny Cash in Rolling Stone when Together Through Life was coming out. Although I enjoyed some tracks from the later albums of Johnny Cash, I certainly didn't enjoy them all, but I hope that Bob was either being ironic (satirizing the way that some people talk about his own less-than-legendary records), or that he regrets saying what he said about a man he seems to have genuinely looked up to at times.

Yes, Fur. I like the ironic/satirical out that you give Bob. Very good perspective. If he didn't mean it that way it then it certainly brings to mind the "those that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" thing.

"In plain terms, Johnny was and is the North Star; you could guide your ship by him – the greatest of the greats then and now.”

Re: American recordings. I think it might be possible that Bob meant 'lo-fi' but came out with 'low-grade.'

I could see Dylan not caring for Cash's later work. It's very much 'of a type,' and Johnny Cash went through many different styles during his career. "Notorious low-grade stuff" sound like one of those Dylan-isms that we know and love, and probably doesn't show so much a meanspiritedness as a subjective dislike. And I don't see how this opinion has anything to do with Dylan's own career - many like his earlier music more, and many like his current music more; no different. He shouldn't require a positive appraisal of somebody else's recent career in order for people to respect his own recent career. I believe this was discussed at the time, and was surprised that it brought out a kind of "ad hominem" attack on Dylan for having such an opinion. To be fair, I can see people defending Johnny Cash - he was truly one of America's greatest singers, and connected personally with his audience. Still, best to discuss the good qualities in his work than move into ad hominem territory.

Bob and John Bucklen, recorded at Bob's house in Hibbing, 1958:

Bucklen: You think singing is just jumping around and screaming?

Zimmerman: You gotta have some kind of expression.

Bucklen: Johnny Cash has got expression.

Zimmerman: There's no expression. [sings in boring, slow and monotone voice]: "I met her at a dance in St. Paul Minnesota... I walk the line, because you're mine, because you're mine..."

Bucklen: You're doing it wrong, you're just ...

Zimmerman: But when you hear a song like Johnny Cash, whadaya wanna do? You wanna leave, you wanna, you - when you hear a song like some good Rhythm and Blues song you wanna cry when you hear one of those songs.

^says the sixteen year old kid