Happy 4th of July

‘Ragged Old Flag‘ in honor of our Independence Day and Johnny Cash’s eternal patriotism.

Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, “Your old courthouse is kinda run down.�
He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town.�
I said, “Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that’s a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.�He said, “Have a seat,� and I sat down.
“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town?�
I said, “I think it is.� He said, “I don’t like to brag,
But we’re kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.“You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when
Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing Say Can You See.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin’ at its seems.

“And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

“On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She was sent where she was by her Uncle Sam.

“She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they’ve about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land here she’s been abused –
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.

“And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she’s getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she’s in good shape for the shape she’s in.
‘Cause she’s been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

“So we raise her up every morning, take her
down every night.
We don’t let her touch the ground and we fold
her up right.
On second thought, I do like to brag,
‘Cause I’m mighty proud of the Ragged Old Flag.�

The Tennessee home of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash burned down earlier this week. Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees purchased the home from heirs of the legendary Cash following his death.

Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, lived together in the three-story, wooden lakeside house in Hendersonville, Tennessee, about 20 miles north of Nashville, from 1968 until they died within months of each other in 2003.

The Hendersonville Star News quoted a fire official as saying the blaze probably started when fumes from a wood preservative used in the renovations were ignited by a spark.

The house was featured in the Grammy-winning video “Hurt,” in which a dying Cash surveyed his wild life. His eldest daughter, Rosanne Cash, eulogized it in the song “House on the Lake” on her latest album “Black Cadillac.”

For some reason I believe Johnny’s ghost set that house ablaze at the thought of a Bee Gee living in it.

• Daniel Baldwin arrested for stealing an SUV- Allie is Wired
• Joely Richardson quits Nip/Tuck- Bumpshack
• Celebs galore in new Johnny Cash video- Celebrity Smack!
• Johnny Depp is slowly going insane- Celebslam
• Borat’s cousin spotted- cityrag
• Nikki Sixx now has his own clothing line- Denimology
• Eddie Van Halen’s son joins Van Halen- Earvolution
• Lindsay Lohan poking out again- Fatback and Collards
• Cameron Diaz wants her nose fixed- Gone Hollywood
• K-FedEx goes shopping for his kids- Miz Monica
• Jessica Simpson meets male prostitute- Nosy Snoop
• Cindy Margolis all done up right- Pink Meat Company
• Nicky Hilton likes them short- Popbytes
• Luke Wilson’s hate for Kate Beckinsale- Yeeeah!

Mug shot of Johnny Cash after Cash was arrested by U.S. Customs in El Paso, Texas for having hundreds of pep pills and tranquilizers in his suit case upon returning from Mexico.

The Walk the Line poster was voted the Best Movie Poster of last year. What is your favorite movie poster of all-time? What are some of the worst posters as well?

The new album American V: A Hundred Highways by the late Johnny Cash is the #1 album in America according to Billboard. The album consists of new material that Cash recorded after the passing of his wife June up until his own death. Producer Rick Rubin, who was a close friend of Cash as well, claims to have enough material for three more albums. The last time Johnny Cash had a #1 album was thirty-seven years ago. 88,000 copies were sold during the past week.

Being a Cash fan I picked this album up at Costco last week. Cash is as good as ever on all of these songs. His voice is weak on some songs and as strong as ever on others. The weakness just makes the song that much more personal. You can feel every emotion Cash is feeling with each note he hits or attempts to hit on American V.

Top 5 Billboard albums this week:

1. Johnny Cash- American V: A Hundred Highways
2. Nelly Furtado- Loose
3. India Arie- Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
4. Dixie Chicks- Taking the Long Way
5. Gnarls Barkley- St. Elsewhere

 

I posted yesterday about Johnny Cash’s new album that was released on the Fourth of July.  You can listen to two songs off of that album on the MySpace page set up for the late Johnny Cash.

The two songs posted on MySpace are some of Cash’s best work ever. They were recorded in the months between the passing of his wife June and his own death.

 

 

Happy 4th of July 

The late, great Johnny Cash has a new CD out today on Independence Day.  The album is part of the American Recordings series with producer Rick Rubin.  The songs were recorded during the last year of Cash’s life, after his wife June had passed away.

Cash had to record everyday after June’s death. Singing was his life and kept him going according to Rubin.

Fulfilling Cash’s request, Rubin set up a studio in a bedroom of Cash’s home in Tennessee, and sent an engineer who was on call for recording for most of the rest of Cash’s life. The music legend died four months after his wife.

Results of some of those sessions are evident with Tuesday’s release of “American V: A Hundred Highways,” the fifth and penultimate in a series of discs made with Rubin that memorably capped Cash’s career. It’s the most moving musical rumination on mortality since Warren Zevon’s last album before lung cancer killed him.

Cash’s once mountainous voice trembles and breaks in a set of songs both somber and spiritual. “Oh, Lord, help me to walk another mile, just one more mile,” Cash sings on the disc’s opening line. “I’m tired of walking all alone.”

In honor of the 4th of July and Johnny Cash’s undying patriotism, I thought I would post his patriotic song “Ragged Old Flag”.  If you ever get a chance to hear this recording, then you should.  It is a powerful song.  Here are the lyrics.

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, “Your old courthouse is kinda run down.”
He said, “Naw, it’ll do for our little town.”
I said, “Your old flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that’s a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.”He said, “Have a seat,” and I sat down.
“Is this the first time you’ve been to our little town?”
I said, “I think it is.” He said, “I don’t like to brag,
But we’re kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.“You see, we got a little hole in that flag there when
     Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing Say Can You See.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin’ at its seems.

“And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

“On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II.
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She was sent where she was by her Uncle Sam.

“She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they’ve about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land here she’s been abused –
She’s been burned, dishonored, denied, and refused.

“And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she’s getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she’s in good shape for the shape she’s in.
‘Cause she’s been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

“So we raise her up every morning, take her
     down every night.
We don’t let her touch the ground and we fold
     her up right.
On second thought, I do like to brag,
‘Cause I’m mighty proud of the Ragged Old Flag.”